Freelance expense tracker
Every untracked receipt is a deduction you paid taxes on. Log expenses as they happen, grouped by Schedule C category, and the ledger keeps the running totals: what you spent, what is deductible (business meals count at 50%), and roughly what that saves you in April. Export the year to CSV whenever your tax preparer asks.
Expenses this year
No expenses logged yet. Add the first one above.
Year to date
Spent$0this year
- Deductible total
- $0
- Estimated tax saved
- $0
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Estimate
workingfigures.com/calculators/freelance-expense-tracker
The formula
Deductible total = every logged expense at 100%, except business meals at 50% (IRC section 274). Estimated tax saved = deductible total × your combined marginal rate. Categories mirror the 2025 Schedule C expense lines so the CSV drops straight into tax prep.
What this ignores
Depreciation and Section 179 for large purchases, the home office deduction (its own calculator handles that), vehicle actual-cost vs mileage elections, and state quirks. It also trusts your categorization; when in doubt about a big or unusual expense, ask a professional.
Uses 2025 IRS constants (standard deduction $15,000; Social Security wage base $176,100).
FAQ
- Which expenses can freelancers actually deduct?
- Anything ordinary and necessary for the business: software, advertising, contract help, insurance, professional services, supplies, business travel, half of business meals. The common misses are small subscriptions and mixed-use items; the common overreach is personal costs dressed up as business. When an expense is partly personal, deduct only the business share.
- Why do meals only count at 50%?
- Federal law (IRC section 274) caps the deduction for business meals at half the cost, on the theory that you would have eaten anyway. The tracker applies the 50% automatically, so log the full receipt amount and let the math handle it.
- Is this a replacement for bookkeeping software?
- For a solo freelancer with straightforward finances, a disciplined expense log plus a CSV export covers most of what a preparer needs. Once you have inventory, employees, heavy mileage, or want bank-feed automation, dedicated bookkeeping software earns its subscription. This tracker's advantage is friction: it is free, instant, and private.