101 Tax deductions for freelancers

The very first time I filed taxes as a freelancer, it was a NASTY shock.  Somehow, I'd figured that Uncle Sam would take his one third(I live in NY) and be done with it.

Doesn't work that way.

I'm not a tax expert by any means, so thoughts on this from elsewhere would be great.

I filed an earned income of about ten thousand dollars.  Turbo Tax then informed me that I owed the government eight.  EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS. Out of the ten I'd made freelancing out of the year.

Uh huh, I learned about deductions the hard and painful way.

As a freelancer, there were tons of things that I didn't realize I was expected to claim as a business expense, that I didn't.  Some of them(like my tools) were just me being a lunkhead.  Others - books on my fields, business lunches, seminars, classes - had never even occurred to me.

I was very naive, and it cost me.  Hopefully, this list will give you some thoughts so you don't end up in the same hole as I did.

Disclaimer: not all of these deductions are applicable for all types of freelancers, as far as I know. Don't be me - find yourself a good accountant and get a consultation.

As always, click on the title of the post for the link(at least until I can figure out how internal links work).