Updated
Consultants generally deduct client travel, software, a qualifying home office, training, insurance and subcontractors on Schedule C, plus 50% of business meals. Consulting is a light-asset business with a heavy travel and software bill, and the hard part is rarely knowing the category. It's having the receipt and the business reason when your CPA asks.
What expenses can I claim as a consultant?
Generally, the ordinary and necessary costs of your consulting practice. The usual list:
| Expense | Where it usually goes | The rule to know |
|---|---|---|
| Airfare, hotels, rental cars, rail for client work | Schedule C line 24a (travel) | You must be away from your tax home overnight; lodging is actual cost |
| Meals while traveling or with clients | Line 24b (meals) | Generally 50% |
| Local driving between business locations | Line 9 (car and truck) | Commuting isn't deductible |
| Software and SaaS: project tools, CRM, design, accounting, video calls | Office expense or other expenses | Larger purchases may be depreciated or covered by the de minimis safe harbor |
| Laptop, monitor, phone | Depreciation or de minimis safe harbor | $2,500 per invoice or item if you don't have an applicable financial statement, by annual election, provided you expense such items in your books under a procedure in place at the start of the year |
| Home office | Line 30 | Exclusive and regular use; simplified method $5 × up to 300 sq ft |
| Courses, certifications, books, conferences in your field | Usually other expenses | Must maintain or improve current skills |
| Professional liability (E&O) and general business insurance | Line 15 | Health insurance is separate (Form 7206) |
| Subcontractors and freelancers you hire | Line 11 (contract labor) | 1099-NEC generally at $2,000 for 2026 payments (most corporations and card or payment-app payments excluded) |
| Accountant and attorney fees for the business | Line 17 | |
| Business share of phone and internet | Utilities or other expenses | First home landline's basic service is personal |
| Professional association dues | Other expenses | Social and country club dues aren't deductible |
These are general rules; your CPA decides how they apply to you.
What travel can a consultant deduct?
Travel away from your tax home for business, which for most consultants means client engagements in other cities. IRS Publication 463 says you're traveling away from home if your duties keep you away "substantially longer than an ordinary day's work" and you need to sleep or rest. Your tax home is generally your regular place of business, not where your family lives.
Deductible travel generally includes transportation, lodging, rideshares and taxis at the destination, baggage fees, laundry on longer trips and 50% of meals. Self-employed people can use the federal meal and incidental rate instead of tracking each meal, but there's no standard amount for lodging: Publication 463 says your lodging deduction is your actual cost.
If you extend a client trip for vacation, only the business days' costs count, though round-trip airfare for a trip that's primarily business generally stays deductible. Foreign trips have their own tests. See business travel deductions and mixed business and personal trips.
Example: a fictional strategy consultant flies to Denver for a three-day client workshop, with $480 airfare, three hotel nights at $210 and $190 of meals. Under the general rules, the airfare and $630 of lodging are travel expenses, and the meals are generally deductible at 50%, or $95. If she stays two extra nights to ski, those nights and their meals are personal.
Are client meals deductible for consultants?
Generally at 50%. Under the 2025 Publication 463, the 50% limit applies to self-employed people, including meals during business travel, and the temporary 100% restaurant rule ended after 2022. The meal has to have a business purpose, you or an employee must be present, and it can't be lavish. Entertainment, such as a game or concert with a client, is generally not deductible at all. For receipts, Publication 463 expects the restaurant's name and location, the number of people served, and the date and amount. More in the business meals guide.
What can a consultant deduct when working from home?
If part of your home is used regularly and exclusively as your principal place of business, you can generally take the home office deduction. IRS Publication 587 says administrative and management work, such as billing and scheduling, can make your home office your principal place of business, even if you do client work on site, as long as you have no other fixed location where you do substantial administrative work. Use the simplified method ($5 per square foot, up to 300 square feet) or actual expenses on Form 8829. The home office guide compares the two.
A qualifying home office also changes your local driving: Publication 463 says daily trips from that office to other work locations in the same business can be deductible.
Can I deduct training and certifications?
Usually, if they maintain or improve skills you use in your current consulting work. IRS Publication 970 lists refresher courses and courses on current developments as examples. It excludes education that meets the minimum requirements of your work or qualifies you for a new trade or business. A project-management certification for a working project consultant generally qualifies; a degree that qualifies you for a new profession generally doesn't.
What are the 1099 rules when I hire subcontractors?
If you pay a non-employee for services in your business, you may owe them a Form 1099-NEC. For payments made after December 31, 2025, the threshold is $2,000, up from $600, per Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and the IRS 1099-NEC FAQ. Rev. Proc. 2025-32 says the $2,000 base is adjusted for inflation, so check the figure each year. For 2026 payments, the deadline falls on Monday, February 1, 2027, because January 31 is a Sunday. Payments to most corporations, and payments by card or payment app (reported on Form 1099-K instead), are generally excluded. Collect a Form W-9 before you pay, and record each payment so the total is easy to check.
What records should a consultant keep?
- Bank and card statements for every business account
- Receipts for lodging (always), and for meals, travel and gifts of $75 or more
- For each trip: dates, destination, client and purpose
- For each meal: who attended and the business discussed
- Software and subscription invoices, especially annual renewals
- Course and certification receipts, with a note on how each relates to your work
- W-9s and payment totals for each subcontractor
- Home office square footage and household expense records
Where Amy fits
A consultant's expenses are spread across cards, client cities and calendars. Amy finds them in the records you already have, including the ones that never show up as a charge, and tells you what's missing. You and your CPA decide what counts.
