3 Creative Deductions for Self-Employed Expenses

Deducting self-employed expenses is an important part of filing your taxes. Coming up with as many legitimate deductions as you can will significantly lower your tax bill. Here are a few creative deductions for self-employed expenses.

1. Home Office Deduction

As part of doing business at home, you should be able to claim a home office deduction. If you have a room in your house that is devoted to your business, you can file a home office deduction. Measure the size of the office and calculate the square footage. Then take that number divided by the total footage of the house. This will give you a percentage. You can then deduct that percentage off of the bills associated with the home. Things like the mortgage, insurance, utilities and repairs can also be deducted.

2. Long Distance Charges

If you do business over the phone, you should deduct any long distance charges that you have on your phone bill for business purposes. You will have to specify the exact phone calls that were made, but you can deduct them as long as they were for business.

3. Health Insurance

Your health insurance premiums are also deductible when you are self-employed. Keep track of how much you pay for insurance for you and your family for the year, and then deduct it.