I’ve got a bunch of tax advice for freelance writers articles lined up. (Stupid fact checking.) For now, though, I just want to brain dump some things are usually tax-deductible for freelance writers.
All deductions are, as always, subject to the rule that they must be used for business, and not for personal use. (We’ll slice that rule a bit finer in later articles. – For today, if you bought, rented, subscribed, or paid for any of these things for your freelance writing business, you can probably deduct them.)
- Computers, laptops, tablets, eReaders, or other devices you use to write, publish, or research your writing.
- Printers, scanners, label makers, an other office equipment used to run your business.
- Desks, chairs, rugs, that little dorm fridge, bookshelves, and other office furniture used for your home office or otherwise.
- Paper, toner, ink, pens, pencils, markers, white boards, notebooks and other writing supplies
- Subscriptions to writing magazines, business magazines, including electronic or web-based versions.
- Books (and eBooks) used for your business, that includes business books, marketing books, and any sort of research books. Write about personal finance? Finance books count. Write about technology? Technology books count.
- Website hosting fees.
- Domain name charges.
- Any advertising costs or fees, including sponsoring events, charities, or school clubs, or sports teams.
- Business cards, signs, flyers, any items with the business name, logo, or contact info.
- Phone (if used for business), answering service, PO box, or mail drop, and co-working space fees, office fees, or rental fees for space.
- Any leased, or rented, equipment.
- Parking for business purposes.
- Business mileage driven.
- Home office (This can be a big one. It can be really helpful to let tax preparation software calculate this for you. You’ll need the business edition, not a free edition.)
- Any business, or writing, software, including subscription software like Office 365, or Adobe Cloud software, Tax Software, accounting software. Mobile apps count too.
- Cloud storage for business backups or access, such as iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive.
- Anything used for your writing process, mini-tape recorders, white boards, note tablets, notepads.
- Shipping costs for anything you send out, including manuscripts, drafts, flash drives mailed cross country, any Patreon awards or gifts, and any contest winnings.
- Your health insurance premiums (if you don’t have other health insurance via a different job, or a spouse.)
- Part of your self-employment taxes
What Freelance Writers Cannot Deduct
This is a trickier list because if you actually do use any of these things below for business, then you CAN deduct them as a freelance writer. However, in most cases, the following things won’t be deductible without special circumstances.
- Food – Sorry, everybody eats. Owning a business doesn’t make you special. Even if you have to grab a bite at a client site, it won’t count. (There might be an exceptions if you are traveling, but that is a different thing altogether.)
- Gas – You CAN deduct mileage, but then you can’t deduct things like gas and oil changes. Most people are better off just taking the standard IRS mileage rate than trying to track all of your automotive expenses.
- Clothing, haircuts, etc… – You never get a second chance to make a first impression, but you never get a chance at all to deduct the clothes, haircuts, and exfoliating scrubs that make that first impression a good one.
- Dual Use Items and Services – Deductions are for business items, not for personal items. With some exceptions, if you are using something for personal reasons you can’t deduct it. That doesn’t mean you can NEVER use business items for even one second for personal reasons. As a general rule of thumb, imagine the thing in question was issued by a corporate company that you worked full time for. If your personal use would be too much for that, it’s too much for taxes.
Keep an eye out for more freelancer taxes articles coming soon.