2007 Instructions for Schedule C, Profit or Loss From Business
Use Schedule C (Form 1040) to report income or loss from a business you operated or a profession you practiced as a sole proprietor. Also, use Schedule C to report wages and expenses you had as a statutory employee. An activity qualifies as a business if your primary purpose for engaging in the activity is for income or profit and you are involved in the activity with continuity and regularity. For example, a sporadic activity or a hobby does not qualify as a business. To report income from a nonbusiness activity, see the Instructions for Form 1040, line 21.
Small businesses and statutory employees with expenses of $2,500 or less may be able to file Schedule C-EZ instead of Schedule C. See Schedule C-EZ to find out if you qualify to file it.
You may be subject to state and local taxes and other requirements such as business licenses and fees. Check with your state and local governments for more information.
Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code.
Revised activity codes. Some of the principal business or professional activity codes beginning on pace C-8 have been revised and some codes have been deleted. Be sure to check the list before you enter your code on line B.
Indian employment credit has been extended. The Indian employment credit has been extended for qualified wages paid to an employee through December 31, 2007.
Work opportunity credit and welfare-to-work credit extended and combined. For 2007, both credits have been combined, modified, and extended for qualified wages paid to an employee.
Husband-wife business. Beginning in 2007, you and your spouse, if you are filing married filing jointly, may be able to make a joint election to be taxed as a qualified joint venture instead of a partnership. See Exception—Qualified joint venture under Husband-wife business on this page.
Section 179 deduction increased. For property placed in service in 2007, the limit for the section 179 deduction to expense certain depreciable business property has been increased to $125,000. This limit will be reduced when the total cost of section 179 property placed in service during the tax year exceeds $500,000.
Hurricane Katrina housing credit has expired. This credit was available for lodg-ing furnished to qualified employees between January 1, 2006, and July 1, 2006, and was claimed on Section B of Form 5884-A.
General Instructions
Other Schedules and Forms You May Have To File
Schedule A to deduct interest, taxes, and
casualty losses not related to your business.
Schedule E to report rental real estate and royalty
income or (loss) that is not
subject to self-employment tax.
Schedule F to report profit or (loss) from
farming.
Schedule SE to pay self-employment tax on
income from any trade or business.
Form 4562 to claim depreciation on assets
placed in service in 2007, to claim amortization that began in 2007, or to
report
information on listed property.
Form 4684 to report a casualty or theft gain
or loss involving property used in your trade or business or income-producing
property.
Form 4797 to report sales, exchanges, and
involuntary conversions (not from a casualty or theft) of trade or business
property.
Form 8271 if you are claiming or you are reporting
on Schedule C or C-EZ any income, deduction, loss, credit, or other tax benefit
from a tax shelter.
Form 8594 to report certain purchases or sales
of groups of assets that constitute a trade or business.
Form 8824 to report like-kind exchanges.
Form 8829 to claim expenses for business use
of your home.
Husband-Wife Business. If you and your spouse jointly own and operate a business and share in the profits and losses, you are partners in a partnership, whether or not you have a formal partnership agreement. Do not use Schedule C or C- EZ. Instead, file Form 1065. See Pub. 541 for more details.
Exception. If you and your spouse wholly own an unincorporated business as community property under the community property laws of a state, foreign country, or U.S. possession, you may treat the business either as a sole proprietorship or a partnership. The only states with community property laws are Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. A change in your reporting position will be treated as a conversion of the entity.
Single-Member Limited Liability Company (LLC). Generally, a single-member domestic LLC is not treated as a separate entity for Federal income tax purposes. If you are the sole member of a domestic LLC, file Schedule C or C-EZ (or Schedule E or F, if applicable). However, you may elect to treat a domestic LLC as a corporation. See Form 8832 for details on the election and the tax treatment of a foreign LLC.
Heavy Vehicle Use Tax. If you use certain highway trucks, truck-trailers, tractor-trailers, or buses in your trade or business, you may have to pay a Federal highway motor vehicle use tax. See Form 2290 to find out if you owe this tax.
Information Returns . You may have to file information returns for wages paid to employees, certain payments of fees and other nonemployee compensation, interest, rents, royalties, real estate transactions, annuities, and pensions. You may also have to file an information return if you sold $5,000 or more of consumer products to a person on a buy-sell, deposit-commission, or other similar basis for resale. For more information, see the 2006 Instructions for Forms 1099, 1098, 5498, and W-2G.
If you received cash of more than $10,000 in one or more related transactions in your trade or business, you may have to file Form 8300. For details, see Pub. 1544.
Reportable Transaction Disclosure Statement
Use Form 8886 to disclose information
for each reportable transaction in which
you participated. Form 8886 must be
filed for each tax year that your Federal
income tax liability is affected by your
participation in the transaction. The foling
lowing are reportable transactions.
Additional Information
See Pub. 334 for more information for small businesses.
Specific Instructions
Filers of Form 1041. Do not complete the block labeled "Social security number." Instead, enter your employer identification number (EIN) on line D.
Describe the business or professional activity that provided your principal source of income reported on line 1. If you owned more than one business, you must complete a separate Schedule C for each business. Give the general field or activity and the type of product or service. If your general field or activity is wholesale or retail trade, or services connected with production services (mining, construction, or manufacturing), also give the type of customer or client. For example, "wholesale sale of hardware to retailers" or "appraisal of real estate for lending institutions."
You need an employer identification number (EIN) only if you had a Keogh plan or were required to file an employment, excise, estate, trust, or alcohol, tobacco, and firearms tax return. If you need an EIN, file Form SS-4. If you do not have an EIN, leave line D blank. Do not enter your SSN.
Enter your business address. Show a street address instead of a box number. Include the suite or room number, if any. If you conducted the business from your home located at the address shown on Form 1040, page 1, you do not have to complete this line.
Generally, you can use the cash method, accrual method, or any other method permitted by the Internal Revenue Code. In all cases, the method used must clearly reflect income. Unless you are a qualifying taxpayer or a qualifying small business taxpayer, you must use the accrual method for sales and purchases of inventory items. See the Part III instructions on page C-6 for the definition of a qualifying taxpayer and a qualifying small business taxpayer. Special rules apply to long-term contracts. See section 460 for details.
If you use the cash method, show all items
of taxable income actually or constructively received during the year (in cash,
property, or services). Income is constructively
received when it is credited to your account or set aside for you to use. Also,
show amounts actually paid during the year for deductible expenses. However,
if the
payment of an expenditure creates an asset having a useful life that extends
substantially beyond the close of the year, it may not be deductible or may
be deductible only in part for the year of the payment. See Pub. 535.
If you use the accrual method, report income when you earn it and deduct expenses when you incur them even if you do not pay them during the tax year. Accrual-basis taxpayers are put on a cash basis for deducting business expenses owed to a related cash-basis taxpayer. Other rules determine the timing of deductions based on economic performance. See Pub. 538.
To change your accounting method, you generally must file Form 3115. You may also have to make an adjustment to prevent amounts of income or expense from being duplicated or omitted. This is called a section 481(a) adjustment, which is taken into account over a period not to exceed 4 years.
Example. You change to the cash method of accounting and choose to account for inventoriable items in the same manner as materials and supplies that are not incidental. You accrued sales in 2006 for which you received payment in 2007. You must report those sales in both years as a result of changing your accounting method and must make a section 481(a) adjustment to prevent duplication of income.
A net negative section 481(a)
adjustment is taken into account entirely in the year of the change. A net positive
section 481(a) adjustment is generally taken into account
over a period of 4 years. Include any net positive section 481(a) adjustments
on line 6. If the net section 481(a) adjustment is negative, report it in Part
V.
For details on figuring
section 481(a) adjustments, see Rev. Proc. 2006-9, Rev. Proc. 2006-19, and Rev.
Proc. 2006-54. You can find Rev. Proc. 2006-9 on page 327 of
Internal Revenue Bulletin 2006-3 at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb02-03.pdf, Rev.
Proc. 2006-19 on page 696 of Internal Revenue Bulletin 2006-13 at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb02-13.pdf,
and Rev. Proc. 2006-54 on page 432 of Internal Revenue Bulletin 2006-35 at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb02-35.pdf.
If your business activity
was not a rental activity and you met any of the material participation
tests below or the exception for oil and gas applies (explained on page
C-3), check the Yes box. Otherwise, check the No box.
If you check the No box, this business is a passive activity. If
you have a loss from this business, see Limit on Losses on page C-3.
If you have a profit from this business activity but have current year losses
from other passive activities or you have prior year unallowed passive activity
losses, see the Instructions for Form 8582.
Material Participation. Participation, for purposes of the seven material participation tests listed below, generally includes any work you did in connection with an activity if you owned an interest in the activity at the time you did the work. The capacity in which you did the work does not matter. However, work is not treated as participation if it is work that an owner would not customarily do in the same type of activity and one of your main reasons for doing the work was to avoid the disallowance of losses or credits from the activity under the passive activity rules.
Work you did as an investor in an activity is not treated as participation unless you were directly involved in the day-to-day management or operations of the activity. Work done as an investor includes:
Participation by your spouse during the tax year in an activity you own can be counted as your participation in the activity. This applies even if your spouse did not own an interest in the activity and whether or not you and your spouse file a joint return for the tax year.
For purposes of the passive activity rules, you materially
participated in the operation of this trade or business activity during 2006
if you meet any of the following seven tests:
Rental of Personal Property.
A rental activity (such as long-term equipment leasing)is a passive activity
even if you materially participated in the activity. However, if you
met any of the five exceptions listed under Rental Activities in the
Instructions for Form 8582, the rental of the property is not treated as a rental
activity and the material
participation rules above apply.
Exception for Oil and Gas. If you are filing Schedule C to report income and deductions from an oil or gas well in which you own a working interest directly or through an entity that does not limit your liability, check the "Yes" box. The activity of owning the working interest is not a passive activity regardless of your participation.
Limit on Losses. If you checked the "No" box
and you have a loss from this business, you may have to use Form 8582
to figure your allowable loss, if any, to enter on Schedule C, line 31. Generally,
you can deduct losses from passive activities only to the extent of income from
passive activities.
For more details, see Pub. 925.
If you started or acquired this business in 2007, check the box on line H. Also, check the box if you are reopening or restarting this business after temporarily closing it, and you did not file a 2006 Schedule C or C-EZ for this business.
Part I. Income
Except as otherwise provided
in the Internal Revenue Code, gross income includes all income from whatever
source derived. Gross income, however, does not include
extraterritorial income that is qualifying foreign trade income. Use Form
8873 to figure the extraterritorial income exclusion. Report it on Schedule
C as explained in the Instructions for Form 8873.
Enter gross receipts from your trade or business. Include amounts you received in your trade or business that were properly shown on Forms 1099-MISC. If the total amounts that were reported in box 7 of Forms 1099-MISC are more than the total you are reporting on line 1, attach a statement explaining the difference.
Statutory Employees. If you received a Form W-2 and the "Statutory employee" box in box 15 of that form was checked, report your income and expenses related to that income on Schedule C or C-EZ. Enter your statutory employee income from box 1 of Form W-2 on line 1 of Schedule C or C-EZ, and check the box on that line. Social security and Medicare tax should have been withheld from your earnings; therefore, you do not owe self-employment tax on these earnings. Statutory employees include full-time life insurance agents, certain agent or commission drivers and traveling salespersons, and certain homeworkers.
If you had both self-employment income and statutory employee income, do not combine these amounts on a single Schedule C or C-EZ. In this case, you must file two Schedules C. You cannot use Schedule C-EZ.
Installment Sales. Generally, the installment method may not be used to report income from the sale of (a) personal property regularly sold under the installment method or (b) real property held for resale to customers. But the installment method may be used to report income from sales of certain residential lots and timeshares if you elect to pay interest on the tax due on that income after the year of sale. See Internal Revenue Code section 453(l)(2)(B) for details. If you make this election, include the interest on Form 1040, line 61. Also, enter "453(l)(3)" and the amount of the interest on the dotted line to the left of line 61.
If you use the installment method, attach a schedule to your return. Show separately for 2006 and the 3 preceding years: gross sales, cost of goods sold, gross profit, percentage of gross profit to gross sales, amounts collected, and gross profit on amounts collected.
Report on line 6 amounts from finance reserve income, scrap sales, bad debts you recovered, interest (such as on notes and accounts receivable), state gasoline or fuel tax refunds you got in 2007, credit for Federal tax paid on gasoline or other fuels claimed on your 2006 Form 1040, prizes and awards related to your trade or business, and other kinds of miscellaneous business income. Include amounts you received in your trade or business as shown on Form 1099-PATR. Also, include any recapture of the deduction for clean-fuel vehicles used in your business and clean-fuel vehicle refueling property. For more details, see Pub. 535.
If the business use percentage of any listed property (defined in the instructions for line 13 on page C-4) decreased to 50% or less in 2007, report on this line any recapture of excess depreciation, including any section 179 expense deduction. Use Form 4797 to figure the recapture. Also, if the business use percentage drops to 50% or less on leased listed property (other than a vehicle), include on this line any inclusion amount. See Pub. 946 to figure the amount.
Part II. Expenses
Capitalizing Costs of Property. If you produced real or tangible personal property or acquired property for resale, certain expenses attributable to the property must be included in inventory costs or capitalized. In addition to direct costs, producers of inventory property must also include part of certain indirect costs in their inventory. Purchasers of personal property acquired for resale must include part of certain indirect costs in inventory only if the average annual gross receipts for the 3 prior tax years exceed $10 million. Also, you must capitalize part of the indirect costs that benefit real or tangible personal property constructed for use in a trade or business, or noninventory property produced for sale to customers. Reduce the amounts on lines 8-26 and Part V by amounts capitalized. For more details, see Pub. 538.
Exception for Certain
Producers. who
account for inventoriable items in the same manner as materials and supplies
that are not incidental may currently deduct
expenditures for direct labor and all indirect costs that would otherwise be
included in inventory costs. See Cost of Goods Sold on page C-6 for more
details.
Exception for Creative Property. If you are an artist, author, or photographer, you may be exempt from the capitalization rules. However, your personal efforts must have created (or reasonably be expected to create) the property. This exception does not apply to any expense related to printing, photographic plates, motion picture films, video tapes, or similar items. These expenses are subject to the capitalization rules. For more details, see Pub. 538.
Include debts and partial debts from sales or services that were included in income and are definitely known to be worthless. If you later collect a debt that you deducted as a bad debt, include it as income in the year collected. For more details, see Pub. 535.
You can deduct the actual expenses of running your car or truck, or take the standard mileage rate. You must use actual expenses if you used your vehicle for hire (such as a taxicab), or you used more than one vehicle simultaneously in your business (such as in fleet operations). You cannot use actual ex-penses for a leased vehicle if you previously used the standard mileage rate for that ve-hicle.
You can use the standard mileage rate for 2007 only if:
If you deduct actual expenses:
If you take the standard mileage rate, multiply the number of business miles by 36 cents. Add to this amount your parking fees and tolls, and enter the total on line 10. Do not deduct depreciation, rent or lease payments, or your actual operating expenses.
For more details, see Pub. 463.
Information on Your Vehicle. If you claim any car and truck expenses, you must pro-vide certain information on the use of your vehicle by completing one of the following:
Line 11
Enter the total cost
of contract labor for the tax year. Do not include contract labor deducted
elsewhere on your return such as contract labor that you included in Part III.
Also, do not include salaries and wages paid to your employees, instead see line 26.
Enter your deduction for depletion on this line. If you have timber depletion, attach Form T. See Pub. 535 for details.
Depreciation and Section 179 Expense Deduction. Depreciation is the annual deduction allowed to recover the cost or other basis of business or investment property with a useful life of more than 1 year. You can also depreciate improvements made to leased business property. However, stock in trade, inventories, and land are not depreciable. Depreciation starts when you first use the property in your business or for the production of income. It ends when you take the property out of service, deduct all your depreciable cost or other basis, or no longer use the property in your business or for the production of income. You may also choose under Internal Revenue Code section 179 to expense part of the cost of certain property you bought in 2006 for use in your business. See the Instructions for Form 4562 to figure the amount to enter on line 13.
When To Attach Form 4562. You must complete and attach Form 4562 only if:
Exceptions. Listed property does not include photographic, phonographic, communication, or video equipment used exclusively in your trade or business or at your regular business establishment. It also does not include any computer or peripheral equipment used exclusively at a regular business establishment and owned or leased by the person operating the establishment. For purposes of these exceptions, a portion of your home is treated as a regular business establishment only if that portion meets the requirements under Internal Revenue Code section 280A(c)(1) for deducting expenses for the business use of your home.
See the instructions for line 6 on page C-3 if the business use percentage of any listed property decreased to 50% or less in 2006.
Deduct contributions to employee benefit programs that are not an incidental part of a pension or profit-sharing plan included on line 19. Examples are accident and health plans, group-term life insurance, and dependent care assistance programs.
Do not include on line 14 any contributions you made on your behalf as a self-employed person to an accident and health plan or for group-term life insurance. You may be able to deduct on Form 1040, line 30, part of the amount you paid for health insurance on behalf of yourself, your spouse, and dependents, even if you do not itemize your deductions. See the Form 1040 instructions on page 30 for more details.
Deduct premiums paid for business insurance on line 15. Deduct on line 14 amounts paid for employee accident and health insurance. Do not deduct amounts credited to a reserve for self-insurance or premiums paid for a policy that pays for your lost earnings due to sickness or disability. For more details, see Pub. 535.
Interest Allocation Rules. The tax treatment of interest expense differs depending on its type. For example, home mortgage interest and investment interest are treated differently. "Interest allocation" rules require you to allocate (classify) your interest expense so it is deducted (or capitalized) on the correct line of your return and gets the right tax treatment. These rules could affect how much interest you are allowed to deduct on Schedule C or C-EZ.
Generally, you allocate interest expense by tracing how the proceeds of the loan were used. See Pub. 535 for details.
If you paid interest
on a debt secured by your main home and any of the proceeds from
that debt were used in connection with your trade or business, see Pub. 535 to
figure the amount that is deductible on Schedule C or C-EZ.
How To Report. If you have a mortgage on real property used in your business (other than your main home), enter on line 16a the interest you paid for 2007 to banks or other financial institutions for which you received a Form 1098 (or similar statement). If you did not receive a Form 1098, enter the interest on line 16b.
If you paid more mortgage interest than is shown on Form 1098, see Pub. 535 to find out if you can deduct the additional interest. If you can, include the amount on line 16a. Attach a statement to your return explaining the difference and enter “See attached” in the margin next to line 16a.
If you and at least one
other person (other than your spouse if you file a joint return)
were liable for and paid interest on the mortgage and the other person received
the Form 1098, include your share of the interest on line 16b. Attach
a statement to your return showing the name and address of the person
who received the Form 1098. In the margin next to line 16b, enter “See attached.”
If you paid interest in 2007 that applies to future years, deduct only the part that applies to 2007.
Include on this line fees for tax advice related to your business and for preparation of the tax forms related to your business.
Enter your deduction for contributions to a pension, profit-sharing, or annuity plan, or plans for the benefit of your employees. If the plan includes you as a self-employed person, enter contributions made as an employer on your behalf on Form 1040, line 30, not on Schedule C.
Generally, you must file the applicable form listed below if you maintain a pension, profit-sharing, or other funded-deferred compensation plan. The filing requirement is not affected by whether or not the plan qualified under the Internal Revenue Code, or whether or not you claim a deduction for the current tax year. There is a penalty for failure to timely file these forms.
Form 5500. File this form for a plan that is not a one-participant plan (see below).
Form 5500-EZ. File this form for a one-participant plan. A one-participant plan is a plan that covers only you (or you and your spouse).
For details, see Pub. 560.
If you rented or leased vehicles, machinery, or equipment, enter on line 20a the business portion of your rental cost. But if you leased a vehicle for a term of 30 days or more, you may have to reduce your deduction by an amount called the inclusion amount.
You may have to do this if.
| The lease term began during: | And the vehicle. s fair market value on the first day of the lease exceeded: |
| 2007 | $18,000 |
| 1999 though 2006 | $15,500 |
| 1997 or 1998 | 15,800 |
| 1995 or 1996 | 15,500 |
If the lease term began before 1995, see Pub. 463 to find out if you have an inclusion amount.
See Pub. 463 to figure your inclusion amount.
Enter on line 20b amounts paid to rent or lease other property, such as office space in a building.
Deduct the cost of repairs and maintenance. Include labor, supplies, and other items that do not add to the value or increase the life of the property. Do not deduct the value of your own labor. Do not deduct amounts spent to restore or replace property; they must be capitalized.
Line 22
Generally, you can deduct the cost of supplies only to the extent you actually consumed and used them in your business during the tax year (unless you deducted them in a prior tax year). However, if you had incidental supplies on hand for which you kept no inventories or records of use, you may deduct the cost of supplies you actually purchased during the tax year, pro-vided that method clearly reflects income.
You can deduct the following taxes on this line:
Enter your expenses for lodging and transportation connected with overnight travel for business while away from your tax home. Generally, your tax home is your main place of business regardless of where you maintain your family home. You cannot deduct expenses paid or incurred in connection with employment away from home if that period of employment exceeds 1 year. Also, you cannot deduct travel expenses for your spouse, your dependent, or any other individual unless that person is your employee, the travel is for a bona fide business purpose, and the expenses would otherwise be deductible by that person.
Do not include expenses for meals and entertainment on this line. Instead, see the instructions for lines 24b and 24c on this page.
Instead of keeping records
of your actual incidental expenses, you can use an optional method for deducting incidental expenses only if you did not pay
or incur
meal expenses on a day you were traveling away from your tax home. The
amount of the deduction is $2 a day for the period from January 1 through October 31, 2007,
and $3 a day for the period from November 1 through December 31, 2007.
Incidental expenses include fees and tips given to porters, baggage carriers,
bellhops, hotel
maids, stewards or stewardesses and others on ships, and hotel servants
in foreign countries. They do not include expenses for laundry, cleaning
and pressing of clothing, lodging taxes, or the costs of telegrams or
telephone calls. You cannot use this method on any day that you use the
standard meal allowance (as explained in the instructions for lines 24b and 24c).
You cannot deduct expenses for attending a foreign convention unless it is directly related to your trade or business and it is as reasonable for the meeting to be held outside the North American area as within it. These rules apply to both employers and employees. Other rules apply to luxury water travel.
For more details, see Pub. 463.
The standard meal allowance
is the Federal M&IE rate. You can find these rates on the Internet
at www.policyworks.gov/perdiem. Click on 2007 Domestic Per
Diem Rates for the period January 1, 2007–September 30, 2007 and
on 2007 Domestic Per Diem Rates for the period October 1, 2007–December 31, 2007. For
locations outside the continental United States, the applicable rates
are published monthly. You can find these rates on the Internet at www.state.gov/m/a/als/prdm/
2007.
See Pub. 463 for details on how to figure your deduction using the standard meal allowance, including special rules for partial days of travel.
Business meal expenses are deductible only if they are (a) directly related to or associated with the active conduct of your trade or business, (b) not lavish or extravagant, and (c) incurred while you or your employee is present at the meal.
You cannot deduct any expense paid or incurred for a facility (such as a yacht or hunting lodge) used for any activity usually considered entertainment, amusement, or recreation.
Also, you cannot deduct membership dues for any club organized for business, pleasure, recreation, or other social purpose. This includes country clubs, golf and athletic clubs, airline and hotel clubs, and clubs operated to provide meals under conditions favorable to business discussion. But it does not include civic or public service organizations, professional organizations (such as bar and medical associations), business leagues, trade associations, chambers of commerce, boards of trade, and real estate boards, unless a principal purpose of the organization is to entertain, or provide entertainment facilities for, members or their guests.
There are exceptions to these rules as well as other rules that apply to sky-box rentals and tickets to entertainment events. See Pub. 463.
Generally, you may deduct only 50% of your business meal and entertainment expenses, including meals incurred while traveling away from home on business. For individuals subject to the Department of Transportation (DOT) hours of service limits, that percent-age is increased to 60% for business meals consumed during, or incident to, any period of duty for which those limits are in effect. Individuals subject to the DOT hours of ser-vice limits include the following persons:
However, you may fully deduct meals and entertainment furnished or reimbursed to an employee if you properly treat the expense as wages subject to withholding. You may also fully deduct meals and entertainment provided to a nonemployee to the extent the expenses are includible in the gross income of that person and reported on Form 1099-MISC. See Pub. 535 for details and other exceptions.
Figure how much of the amount on line 24b is not deductible and enter that amount on line 24c.
Deduct only utility expenses for your trade or business.
Local Telephone Service. If you used your home phone for business, do not deduct the base rate (including taxes) of the first phone line into your residence. But you can deduct expenses for any additional costs you incurred for business that are more than the cost of the base rate for the first phone line. For example, if you had a second line, you can deduct the business percentage of the charges for that line, including the base rate charges.
Enter the total salaries and wages for the tax year. Do not include salaries and wages deducted elsewhere on your return or amounts paid to yourself. Reduce your deduction by the current year credits claimed on:
Caution: If you provided taxable fringe benefits to your employees, such as personal use of a car, do not deduct as wages the amount applicable to depreciation and other expenses claimed elsewhere. :
Line 30
Business Use of Your Home. You may be able to deduct certain expenses for business use of your home, subject to limitations. You must attach Form 8829 if you claim this deduction. For details, see the Instructions for Form 8829 and Pub. 587.
Line 31
If you have a loss, the amount of loss you can deduct this year may be limited. Go on to line 32 before entering your loss on line 31. If you answered "No" to Question G on Schedule C, also see the Instructions for Form 8582. Enter the net profit or deductible loss here. Combine this amount with any profit or loss from other businesses, and enter the total on Form 1040, line 12, and Schedule SE, line 2. Estates and trusts should enter the total on Form 1041, line 3.
If you have a net profit on line 31, this amount is earned income and may qualify you for the earned income credit. See the Instructions for Form 1040, line 64, for details.
Statutory Employees. If you are filing Schedule C to report income and expenses as a statutory employee, include your net profit or deductible loss from line 31 with other Schedule C amounts on Form 1040, line 12. However, do not report this amount on Schedule SE, line 2. If you are required to file Schedule SE because of other self-employment income, see the Instructions for Schedule SE.
Line 32
At-Risk Rules. Generally, if you have (a) a business loss and (b) amounts in the business for which you are not at risk, you will have to complete Form 6198 to figure your allowable loss. The at-risk rules generally limit the amount of loss (including loss on the disposition of assets) you can claim to the amount you could actually lose in the business.
Check box 32b if you have amounts for which you are not at risk in this business, such as the following.
Any loss from this business not allowed for 2007 because of the at-risk rules is treated as a deduction allocable to the business in 2007. For more details, see the Instructions for Form 6198 and Pub. 925.
Part III.
Generally, if you engaged in a trade or busi-ness in which the production, purchase, or sale of merchandise was an income-producing factor, you must take inventories into account at the beginning and end of your tax year.
However, if you are a qualifying taxpayer, you may adopt or change your accounting method to account for inventoriable items in the same manner as materials and supplies that are not incidental.
A qualifying taxpayer is a taxpayer (a) whose average annual gross receipts for the 3 prior tax years are $1 million or less and (b) whose business is not a tax shelter (as defined in section 448(d)(3)).
A qualifying small business taxpayer is a taxpayer (a) whose average annual gross receipts for the 3 prior tax years are more than $1 million but not more than $10 million, (b) whose business is not a tax shelter (as defined in section 448(d)(3)), and (c) whose principal business activity is not an ineligible activity as explained in Rev. Proc. 2006-28, 2006-18 I.R.B. 815. You can find Rev. Proc. 2006-28 on page 815 of Internal Revenue Bulletin 2006-18 at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb02-18.pdf.
Under this accounting method, inventory costs for raw materials purchased for use in producing finished goods and merchandise purchased for resale are deductible in the year the finished goods or merchandise are sold (but not before the year you paid for the raw materials or merchandise, if you are also using the cash method). Enter amounts paid for all raw materials and merchandise during 2007 on line 36. The amount you can deduct for 2007 is figured on line 42.
Additional information.
For additional guidance on this method of accounting for inventoriable items,
see Rev. Proc. 2002-10, 2002-2 I.R.B. 272 if you are a qualifying
taxpayer or Rev. Proc. 2006-28 if you are a qualifying small business taxpayer.
You can find Rev. Proc. 2002-10 on page 272 of Internal Revenue Bulletin 2002-2
at
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb01-02.pdf, and Rev. Proc. 2006-28 on page 815
of Internal Revenue Bulletin 2006-18 at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb02-18.pdf.
Note: Certain direct and indirect expenses must be capitalized or included in inventory. See the instructions for Part II.
Your inventories can be valued at cost; cost or market value, whichever is lower; or any other method approved by the IRS. However, you are required to use cost if you are using the cash method of accounting.
Line 35
If you are changing your method of account-ing from accrual to cash beginning with 2007 and you do not want to account for inventories, refigure last year’s closing in-ventory using the cash method and enter the result on line 35. If there is a difference between last year’s closing inventory and the refigured amount, attach an explanation and take it into account when figuring your section 481(a) adjustment (explained above).
Line 41
If you account for inventoriable items in the same manner as materials and supplies that are not incidental, enter on line 41 the portion of your raw materials and merchandise purchased for resale that are included on line 40 and were not sold during the year.
Include all ordinary and necessary business expenses not deducted elsewhere on Schedule C. List the type and amount of each expense separately in the space provided. Enter the total on lines 48 and 27. Do not include the cost of business equipment or furniture, replacements or permanent improvements to property, or personal, living, and family expenses. Do not include charitable contributions. Also, you may not deduct fines or penalties paid to a government for violating any law. For more details on business expenses, see Pub. 535.
Amortization. Include amortization in this part. For amortization that begins in 2007, you must complete and attach Form 4562.
You may amortize:
Capital Construction Fund. Do not claim on Schedule C or C-EZ the deduction for amounts contributed to a capital construction fund set up under the Merchant Marine Act of 1936. To take the deduction, reduce the amount that would otherwise be entered as taxable income on Form 1040, line 41, by the amount of the deduction. In the margin to the left of line 41, enter "CCF" and the amount of the deduction. For more information, see Pub. 595.
Deduction for Clean-Fuel Vehicles and Clean-Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property. You may deduct part of the cost of qualified clean-fuel vehicle property used in your business and qualified clean-fuel vehicle refueling property. See Pub. 535 for more details.
Disabled Access Credit and the Deduction for Removing Barriers to Individuals With Disabilities and the Elderly. You may be able to claim a tax credit of up to $5,000 for eligible expenditures paid or incurred in 2007 to provide access to your business for individuals with disabilities. See Form 8826 for more details. You can also deduct up to $15,000 of costs paid or incurred in 2007 to remove architectural or transportation barriers to individuals with disabilities and the elderly. However, you cannot take both the credit and the deduction on the same expenditures.
Principal Business or Professional
Activity Codes
These codes for the Principal Business or Professional Activity classify sole
proprietorships by the type of activity they are engaged in to facilitate
the administration of the Internal Revenue Code. These six-digit codes are
based on the new North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and
do not resemble prior year codes.
Select the category that best describes your primary business activity (for
example, Real Estate). Then select the activity that best identifies the principal
source of your sales or receipts (for example, real estate agent). Now find
the six-digit code assigned to this activity and enter it on line B of
Schedule C or C-EZ (for example, 531210, the Code for offices of real
estate agents and brokers).
Note: If your principal source of income is from farming activities,
you should file Schedule F (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Farming.
Accommodation, Food Services, & Drinking Places
Accommodation
721310 Rooming & boarding houses
721210 RV (recreational vehicle) parks & recreational camps
721100 Travel accommodation (including hotels, motels, & bed & breakfast
inns)
Food Services & Drinking
Places
722410 Drinking places (alcoholic beverages)
722110 Full-service restaurants
722210 Limited-service eating places
722300 Special food services (including food service contractors & caterers)
Administrative & Support and Waste Management
& Remediation Services
Administrative & Support Services
561430 Business service centers (including private mail centers & copy
shops)
561740 Carpet & upholstery cleaning services
561440 Collection agencies
561450 Credit bureaus
561410 Document preparation services
561300 Employment services
561710 Exterminating & pest control services
561210 Facilities support (management) services
561600 Investigation & security services
561720 Janitorial services
561730 Landscaping services
561110 Office administrative services
561420 Telephone call centers (including telephone answering services &
telemarketing bureaus)
561500 Travel arrangement & reservation services
561490 Other business support services (including repossession services, court
reporting, & stenotype services)
561790 Other services to buildings & dwellings
561900 Other support services (including packaging & labeling services,
& convention & trade show organizers)
Waste Management & Remediation Services
562000 Waste management & remediation services
Agriculture, Forestry, Hunting, & Fishing
114110 Fishing 113000 Forestry & logging (including forest nurseries &
timber tracts)
114210 Hunting & trapping
112900 Animal production (including breeding of cats and dogs)
Support Activities for Agriculture & Forestry
115210 Support activities for animal production (including farriers)
115110 Support activities for crop production (including cotton ginning, soil
preparation, planting, & cultivating)
115310 Support activities for forestry
Arts, Entertainment, & Recreation
Amusement, Gambling, & Recreation Industries
713100 Amusement parks & arcades
713200 Gambling industries
713900 Other amusement & recreation services (including golf courses,
skiing facilities, marinas, fitness centers, bowling centers, skating rinks,
miniature golf courses)
Museums, Historical Sites, & Similar Institutions
712100 Museums, historical sites, & similar institutions
Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, & Related Industries
711410 Agents & managers for artists, athletes, entertainers, & other
public figures
711510 Independent artists, writers, & performers
711100 Performing arts companies
711300 Promoters of performing arts, sports, & similar events
711210 Spectator sports (including professional sports clubs & racetrack
operations)
Construction of Buildings
236200 Nonresidential building construction
236100 Residential building construction
Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction
237310 Highway, street, & bridge construction
237990 Other heavy & civil engineering construction
237210 Land subdivision
237100 Utility system construction
Special Trade Contractors
238350 Finish carpentry contractors
238330 Flooring contractors
238130 Framing carpentry contractors
238140 Masonry contractors
238320 Painting & wall covering contractors
238150 Glass & glazing contractors
238220 Plumbing, heating & airconditioning contractors
238110 Poured concrete foundation & structure contractors
238160 Roofing contractors
238170 Siding contractors
238910 Site preparation contractors
238120 Structural steel & precast concrete construction contractors
238340 Tile & terrazzo contractors
238290 Other building equipment contractors
238390 Other building finishing contractors
238190 Other foundation, structure, & building exterior contractors
238990 All other specialty trade contractors
238310 Drywall & insulation contractors
238210 Electrical contractors
Educational Services
611000 Educational services (including schools, colleges, & universities)
Finance & Insurance
Credit Intermediation & Related Activities
522300 Activities related to credit intermediation (including loan brokers)
522100 Depository credit intermediation (including commercial banking, savings
institutions, & credit unions)
522200 Nondepository credit intermediation (including sales financing &
consumer lending)
Insurance Agents, Brokers, & Related Activities
524210 Insurance agencies & brokerages
524290 Other insurance related activities
Securities, Commodity Contracts, & Other Financial Investments & Related
Activities
523140 Commodity contracts brokers
523130 Commodity contracts dealers
523110 Investment bankers & securities dealers
523210 Securities & commodity exchanges
523120 Securities brokers
523900 Other financial investment activities (including investment advice)
Health Care & Social Assistance
Ambulatory Health Care Services
621610 Home health care services
621510 Medical & diagnostic laboratories
621310 Offices of chiropractors
621210 Offices of dentists
621330 Offices of mental health practitioners (except physicians)
621320 Offices of optometrists
621340 Offices of physical, occupational & speech therapists, & audiologists
621111 Offices of physicians (except mental health specialists)
621112 Offices of physicians, mental health specialists
621391 Offices of podiatrists
621399 Offices of all other miscellaneous health practitioners
621400 Outpatient care centers
621900 Other ambulatory health care services (including ambulance services,
blood, & organ banks)
Hospitals
622000 Hospitals
Nursing & Residential Care Facilities
623000 Nursing & residential care facilities
Social Assistance
624410 Child day care services
624200 Community food & housing, & emergency & other relief services
624100 Individual & family services
624310 Vocational rehabilitation services
Information
511000 Publishing industries (except Internet)
Broadcasting (except Internet) & Telecommunications
515000 Broadcasting (except Internet)
517000 Telecommunications
Internet Publishing & Broadcasting
516110 Internet publishing & broadcasting
518210 Data processing, hosting, & related services
Internet Service Providers, Web Search Portals, & Data Processing Services
518210 Data processing, hosting, & related services
518111 Internet service providers
518112 Web search portals
519100 Other information services (including news syndicates and libraries)
Motion Picture & Sound Recording
512100 Motion picture & video industries (except video rental)
512200 Sound recording industries
Manufacturing
315000 Apparel mfg.
312000 Beverage & tobacco product mfg.
334000 Computer & electronic product mfg.
335000 Electrical equipment, appliance, & component mfg.
332000 Fabricated metal product mfg.
337000 Furniture & related product mfg.
333000 Machinery mfg.
339110 Medical equipment & supplies mfg.
322000 Paper mfg.
324100 Petroleum & coal products mfg.
326000 Plastics & rubber products mfg.
331000 Primary metal mfg.
323100 Printing & related support activities
313000 Textile mills
314000 Textile product mills
336000 Transportation equipment mfg.
321000 Wood product mfg.
339900 Other miscellaneous mfg.
Chemical Manufacturing
325100 Basic chemical mfg.
325500 Paint, coating, & adhesive mfg.
325300 Pesticide, fertilizer, & other agricultural chemical mfg.
325410 Pharmaceutical & medicine mfg.
325200 Resin, synthetic rubber, & artificial & synthetic fibers &
filaments mfg.
325600 Soap, cleaning compound, & toilet preparation mfg.
325900 Other chemical product & preparation mfg.
Food Manufacturing
311110 Animal food mfg.
311800 Bakeries & tortilla mfg.
311500 Dairy product mfg.
311400 Fruit & vegetable preserving & speciality food mfg.
311200 Grain & oilseed milling
311610 Animal slaughtering & processing
311710 Seafood product preparation & packaging
311300 Sugar & confectionery product mfg.
311900 Other food mfg. (includingcoffee, tea, flavorings, &seasonings)
Leather & Allied Product Manufacturing
316210 Footwear
mfg. (including leather, rubber, & plastics)
316110 Leather & hide tanning & finishing
316990 Other leather & allied product mfg.
Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing
327300 Cement & concrete product mfg.
327100 Clay product & refractory mfg.
327210 Glass & glass product mfg.
327400 Lime & gypsum product mfg.
327900 Other nonmetallic mineral product mfg.
Mining
212110 Coal mining
212200 Metal ore mining
212300 Nonmetallic mineral mining & quarrying
211110 Oil & gas extraction
213110 Support activities for mining
Other Services
Personal & Laundry Services
812111 Barber shops
812112 Beauty salons
812220 Cemeteries & crematories
812310 Coin-operated laundries & drycleaners
812320 Drycleaning & laundry services (except coin-operated) (including
laundry & drycleaning dropoff & pickup sites)
812210 Funeral homes & funeral services
812330 Linen & uniform supply
812113 Nail salons
812930 Parking lots & garages
812910 Pet care (except veterinary) services
812920 Photofinishing
812190 Other personal care services (including diet & weight reducing
centers)
812990 All other personal services
Repair & Maintenance
811120 Automotive body, paint, interior, & glass repair
811110 Automotive mechanical & electrical repair & maintenance
811310 Commercial & industrial machinery & equipment (except automotive
& electronic) repair & maintenance
811210 Electronic & precision equipment repair & maintenance
811430 Footwear & leather goods repair
811190 Other automotive repair & maintenance (including oil change &
lubrication shops & car washes)
811410 Home & garden equipment & appliance repair & maintenance
811420 Reupholstery & furniture repair
811490 Other personal & household goods repair & maintenance
Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services
541100 Legal services
541211 Offices of certified public accountants
541214 Payroll services
541213 Tax preparation services
541219 Other accounting services
Architectural, Engineering, & Related Services
541310 Architectural services
541350 Building inspection services
541340 Drafting services
541330 Engineering services
541360 Geophysical surveying & mapping services
541320 Landscape architecture services
541370 Surveying & mapping (except geophysical) services
541380 Testing laboratories
Computer Systems Design & Related Services
541510 Computer systems design & related services
Specialized Design Services
541400 Specialized design services (including interior, industrial, graphic,
& fashion design)
Other Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services 541800 Advertising
& related services
541800 Advertising & related services
541600 Management, scientific, & technical consulting services
541910 Market research & public opinion polling
541920 Photographic services
541700 Scientific research & development services
541930 Translation & interpretation services
541940 Veterinary services
541990 All other professional, scientific, & technical services
Real Estate & Rental & Leasing
Real Estate
531100 Lessors of real estate (including miniwarehouses & self-storage
units)
531210 Offices of real estate agents & brokers
531320 Offices of real estate appraisers
531310 Real estate property managers
531390 Other activities related to real estate
Rental & Leasing Services
532100 Automotive equipment rental & leasing
532400 Commercial & industrial machinery & equipment rental &
leasing
532210 Consumer electronics & appliances rental
532220 Formal wear & costume rental
532310 General rental centers
532230 Video tape & disc rental
532290 Other consumer goods rental
Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, &
Similar Organizations
813000 Religious, grantmaking, civic, professional, & similar organizations
Retail Trade
Building Material & Garden Equipment & Supplies Dealers
444130 Hardware stores
444110 Home centers
444200 Lawn & garden equipment & supplies stores
444120 Paint & wallpaper stores
444190 Other building materials dealers
Clothing & Accessories Stores
448130 Childrens & infants clothing stores
448150 Clothing accessories stores
448140 Family clothing stores
448310 Jewelry stores
448320 Luggage & leather goods stores
448110 Mens clothing stores
448210 Shoe stores
448120 Womens clothing stores
448190 Other clothing stores
Electronic & Appliance Stores
443130 Camera & photographic supplies stores
443120 Computer & software stores
443111 Household appliance stores
443112 Radio, television, & other electronics stores
Food & Beverage Stores
445310 Beer, wine, & liquor stores
445220 Fish & seafood markets
445230 Fruit & vegetable markets
445100 Grocery stores (including supermarkets & convenience stores without
gas)
445210 Meat markets
445290 Other specialty food stores
Furniture & Home Furnishing Stores
442110 Furniture stores
442200 Home furnishings stores
Gasoline Stations
447100 Gasoline stations (including convenience stores with gas)
General Merchandise Stores
452000 General merchandise stores
Health & Personal Care Stores
446120 Cosmetics, beauty supplies, & perfume stores
446130 Optical goods stores
446110 Pharmacies & drug stores
446190 Other health & personal care stores
Motor Vehicle & Parts Dealers
441300 Automotive parts, accessories, & tire stores
441222 Boat dealers
441221 Motorcycle dealers
441110 New car dealers
441210 Recreational vehicle dealers (including motor home & travel trailer
dealers)
441120 Used car dealers
441229 All other motor vehicle dealers
Sporting Goods, Hobby, Book, & Music Stores
451211 Book stores
451120 Hobby, toy, & game stores
451140 Musical instrument & supplies stores
451212 News dealers & newsstands
451220 Prerecorded tape, compact disc, & record stores
451130 Sewing, needlework, & piece goods stores
451110 Sporting goods stores
Miscellaneous Store Retailers
453920 Art dealers
453110 Florists
453220 Gift, novelty, & souvenir stores
453930 Manufactured (mobile) home dealers
453210 Office supplies & stationery stores
453910 Pet & pet supplies stores
453310 Used merchandise stores
453990 All other miscellaneous store retailers (including tobacco, candle,
& trophy shops)
Nonstore Retailers
454112 Electronic auctions
454310 Fuel dealers
454113 Mail-order houses
454390 Other direct selling establishments (including door-to-door retailing,
frozen food plan providers, party plan merchandisers, & coffee-break service
providers)
454111 Electronic shopping Vending machine operators 454210
Transportation & Warehousing
481000 Air transportation
485510 Charter bus industry
484110 General freight trucking, local
484120 General freight trucking, long distance
485210 Interurban & rural bus transportation
486000 Pipeline transportation
482110 Rail transportation
487000 Scenic & sightseeing transportation
485410 School & employee bus transportation
484200 Specialized freight trucking (including household moving vans)
488000 Support activities for transportation (including motor vehicle towing)
485300 Taxi & limousine service
485110 Urban transit systems
483000 Water transportation
485990 Other transit & ground passenger transportation
Couriers & Messengers
492000 Couriers & messengers
Warehousing & Storage Facilities
493100 Warehousing & storage (except leases of miniwarehouses & self-storage
units)
Utilities
221000 Utilities
Wholesale Trade
Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods
423600 Electrical & electronic goods
423200 Furniture & home furnishing
423700 Hardware, & plumbing & heating equipment & supplies
423940 Jewelry, watch, precious stone, & precious metals
423300 Lumber & other construction materials
423800 Machinery, equipment, & supplies
423500 Metal & mineral (except petroleum)
423100 Motor vehicle & motor vehicle parts & supplies
423400 Professional & commercial equipment & supplies
423930 Recyclable materials
423910 Sporting & recreational goods & supplies
423920 Toy & hobby goods & supplies
423990 Other miscellaneous durable goods
Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods
424300 Apparel, piece goods, & notions
424800 Beer, wine, & distilled alcoholic beverage
424920 Books, periodicals, & newspapers
424600 Chemical & allied products
424210 Drugs & druggists sundries
424500 Farm product raw materials
424910 Farm supplies
424930 Flower, nursery stock, & florists supplies
424400 Grocery & related products
424950 Paint, varnish, & supplies
424100 Paper & paper products
424700 Petroleum & petroleum products
424940 Tobacco & tobacco products
424990 Other miscellaneous nondurable goods
999999 Unclassified establishments (unable to classify)