When you’re self employed, you’re already worrying about so may different moving pieces. Independent insurance payments. Client deadlines. Time management. Your work to life balance. The last thing you need to add to this mix are missed tax tips.

If self-employment was easy, everyone would be doing it, right? To lessen your load, read below for the tax tips you can’t afford to miss.

Tax Tips for the Self Employed

Your Office

Is your laptop strictly for business? Deduction. What about the iPad you use to take notes on in meetings? Deduction. The paper you’ve purchased for client reports? You guessed it: deduction.

The everyday products, electronics, and software you use to run your business, is often times tax deductible. While this is important to remember, it’s especially important, as all the purchases you’re making for your office often adds up quickly.

Save your receipts throughout the year.

Business Travel

For the self employed, keeping up to date on the latest conferences and educational summits is way easier said than done. With these high cost seminars comes travel requirements. And you can’t keep shelling out gas money, hotel and food costs all that often.

Luckily for those self employed, training and education expenses may all be tax deductible. Know that insane amount of money you paid for airport parking? That is even tax deductible.

Did you rent a car after you got off the plane? Tax deductible. As long as you used the rental car specifically and exclusively for business, you’re in the clear. Keep those gas receipts.

Taxes for the Self Employed

If you read anything from this article, make sure it is this: don’t be surprised at the end of the year when you see an increase in the amount of taxes you will end up paying.

This increase is in credit to carrying the burden of paying the entire amount of your Social Security and Medicare.

So how do you report this dreaded Self-Employment Tax? Calculate your self-employment tax on Schedule SE and reporting this amount in the “other” section of your 1040.

Being self employed can be one of the most rewarding and freeing jobs to have. Don’t hinder this experience with the burden of taxes.