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Expense Deductions for Free-lance Food Servers

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Nick vanMaarth

Junior Member
Tennesse.

My wife works for two different catering companies in the Nashville area.
When they cater events, they call her to see if she is available to serve food for them.
At year-end, they each send her a 1099-misc, with no deductions taken out. This year, it's about $4,500.
We use TurboTax, and it appears these 1099's require a Schedule C.

QUESTIONS:

1) On Schedule C, can she deduct her expenses for driving to and from these jobs? The events are at various (and different) locations within 5 to 40 miles of our home.

2) She has no 'owner' interest in either of these catering companies...she does not 'market' herself or act as a 'business' in any sense...she's sort of a 'free-lance food server for hire'. Do we HAVE to declare this 1099-misc on a Schedule C...OR, can we, instead, declare it some other way (and avoid self-employment tax)?

THANK YOU for any help. We appreciate this service that you're providing!
 


seniorjudge

Senior Member
1) On Schedule C, can she deduct her expenses for driving to and from these jobs? The events are at various (and different) locations within 5 to 40 miles of our home.


I have never heard of expenses like that being deductible.

But, I thought OJ was guilty!
 

tranquility

Senior Member
Commuting mileage is generally not deductible. However, if a person has at least one regular place of business away from home, then daily transportation expenses for commuting between your home and a temporary work location can be deducted. Since it does not seem like there is a regular place of business, the mileage would not be deductible. (Going from one location to another in a single day would be.)

A schedule C is the correct form and paying self-employment taxes are required.
 

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