1099 Business Expenses List: What to Track
Written by Darshan Thakor, founder of ScanMyReceipt · Published · Updated
When you're paid on a 1099, nobody withholds tax or tracks expenses for you. This list covers the business expenses contractors most often track, the proof worth keeping for each, examples by type of work, and a free template if you'd rather start in a spreadsheet.
The 1099 business expenses list
These are the expense types independent contractors most often track. Whether and how much of each is deductible depends on your situation, so treat this as a tracking list, not a deduction list. The Schedule C line is where the expense type typically goes, per the IRS Schedule C instructions.
| Expense | Examples | Proof to keep | Typical Schedule C line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advertising | Ads, business cards, website promotion | Receipts or invoices | Line 8 |
| Car and truck | Fuel, parking, tolls, repairs | Receipts plus a mileage log | Line 9 |
| Contract labor | Subcontractors you paid | Invoices and payment records | Line 11 |
| Equipment | Laptop, camera, tools | Purchase receipt; keep until after you sell it | Line 13 (depreciation) |
| Insurance | Business liability, equipment cover | Policy bills and payment records | Line 15 |
| Professional services | Accountant, lawyer, tax preparer | Invoices | Line 17 |
| Office expense | Printer paper, postage, small supplies | Receipts | Line 18 |
| Licenses and taxes | Business licenses, permits | Receipts or notices | Line 23 |
| Travel | Flights, hotels, transport away from home | Receipts plus the business reason | Line 24a |
| Meals | Client meals, meals while traveling | Receipts plus who and why | Line 24b (usually 50%) |
| Utilities, phone and internet | Business share of phone and internet bills | Bills plus how you worked out the business share | Line 25 |
| Software and subscriptions | Design tools, hosting, cloud storage | Receipts or emailed invoices | Line 27b (other expenses) |
| Home office | Business use of your home | Bills, rent or mortgage records, measurements | Line 30 |
Expenses you only partly use for work
Phones, internet, cars and home offices are rarely 100% business. Track the full bill, and keep a simple record of how you worked out the business share, such as a mileage log or a note like "phone used about 60% for client work, based on a month of call logs". Your tax preparer will ask how you got the number, and a note written at the time is far more convincing than a guess in April.
Car, travel and gift expenses have their own proof requirements, explained in IRS Publication 463.
Expenses contractors often forget
The big purchases rarely go missing. These are the ones that slip through:
- Small software subscriptions billed monthly to a card, such as a password manager, cloud storage or a scheduling tool.
- Platform and payment fees taken out before you're paid. Download the statements from the platform.
- Parking and tolls on the way to clients, often paid by phone or at a machine with no paper receipt.
- Supplies bought with groceries, like printer ink or batteries on a household shopping receipt.
- Professional memberships and courses paid once a year and forgotten by tax time.
- Bank charges on a business account or card.
- Shipping and postage for samples, returns or documents.
What to do when a receipt is missing
It happens. Start by asking the merchant for a copy: many stores can reprint a receipt, and online sellers usually keep a downloadable invoice in your account. For subscriptions, the billing page often lists every past invoice.
If you can't get a copy, keep the card or bank statement line and write a short note of what you bought, when, and why it was for work, while you still remember. A statement alone shows that you paid, but not what you bought, so the note matters. Then make the gap less likely next time by scanning receipts the day you get them.
Examples by type of work
| Work | Expenses to watch for |
|---|---|
| Designer or developer | Software subscriptions, a new monitor or laptop, fonts and stock assets, co-working passes |
| Photographer or videographer | Lenses, memory cards, props, travel to shoots, editing software |
| Rideshare or delivery driver | Fuel, car washes, phone mount and charger, tolls, parking |
| Consultant or coach | Client meals, flights and hotels, professional memberships, courses |
| Tradesperson | Materials, tools, safety gear, fuel, trade licenses |
| Writer or creator | Books, research subscriptions, ads, hosting, equipment |
Notice how many of these are small, frequent purchases. They're the ones that go missing, and together they add up.
How to track 1099 expenses from receipts
- Scan each receipt the day you get it, and screenshot emailed receipts for subscriptions.
- Check the date and total the app reads from the receipt.
- Give it a category (Office, Software, Travel, Fuel, Meals…) and a tag for the client or project.
- Add a note for meals, travel and anything partly personal.
- Each quarter, export the period so you can see your totals by category.
The 1099 expense tracker page shows how ScanMyReceipt's categories map to these Schedule C lines. For a fuller routine, see how to track expenses when you're self-employed.
Free 1099 expense tracker template
Prefer a spreadsheet? Download the free template as Excel or CSV. It has columns for date, merchant, category, amount, tax, payment method, business purpose, client or project, and a link to the receipt image, plus a category dropdown and a sheet that totals each category automatically.
A spreadsheet works well for a handful of receipts a month. Beyond that, typing every row gets old quickly, which is where a self-employed expense tracker app that reads receipts for you saves time.
Sources
ScanMyReceipt helps you organize and manage receipt records. It does not determine whether an expense is deductible and does not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. Consult a qualified professional for advice about your specific situation.