The basic test
The common standard is that a deductible expense be ordinary and necessary for your line of work: ordinary meaning common in your field, necessary meaning helpful and appropriate for the business. A graphic designer's software subscription clears that bar easily. A purchase with no plausible connection to how you earn money does not.
Expenses contractors commonly deduct
Software and subscriptions. The tools you work in, from design apps to accounting software to project management, are typically deductible business subscriptions.
Equipment. Computers, cameras, tools, and other gear used for the business. Larger purchases may be deducted at once or over time depending on the rules that apply.
Home office. If you use part of your home regularly and exclusively for business, you may be able to deduct a share of your housing costs. The home office calculator compares the two methods.
Mileage. Business driving is deductible at a standard per-mile rate that covers far more than fuel. The mileage calculator turns miles into a figure.
Professional services. Fees paid to accountants, lawyers, subcontractors, and other professionals for the business.
Marketing. Website costs, advertising, and other spend to find and keep clients.
Education. Courses and materials that maintain or improve skills for your current work often qualify, though education to enter a new field usually does not.
Insurance and fees. Business insurance, professional memberships, and bank or payment processing fees tied to the business.
Why deductions are worth more to a freelancer
For an employee, a work expense saves at most their income tax rate, if it's deductible at all. For a self-employed person, a business expense reduces the profit that both income tax and the 15.3% self-employment tax are calculated on. That double effect is why careful expense tracking is worth more to a contractor than the same tracking would be to an employee. The write-off calculator shows the combined saving on any purchase.
Mixed use has to be split
When something serves both business and personal life, only the business share is deductible. A phone used for both gets split by business-use percentage. A trip that mixes client work and vacation deducts only the business portion. Claiming the whole cost of a mixed-use expense is one of the most common ways deductions fall apart under scrutiny.
The record is the deduction
A deduction you can't document is a deduction you may not be able to defend. Keeping receipts, logging business miles, and running business expenses through a dedicated account rather than a personal one all build the paper trail that makes a deduction hold up. A separate business bank account is the single habit that makes everything else easier.
See what a deduction saves you
The value of a write-off depends on your tax rate and whether self-employment tax applies. These tools put a number on it: