Free for photographers // Excel · 350+ items
Three hundred and fifty line items of things photographers can commonly write off, sorted into eleven categories, with columns for business-use percentage and amount. Built to be read down once a year so you stop leaving money on the table.
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The expensive part of doing your own taxes isn't the deductions you get wrong — it's the ones you never think of. Nobody forgets the camera body. Almost everybody forgets the portion of their phone bill, the hard drives, the cloud storage, the association membership, the workshop, the mileage to a scout, the props bought at a thrift store in March.
This is a list, not a lecture. Read down it once before you file, tick what applies to you, and put the numbers in. Most photographers who do this find several hundred to several thousand dollars they'd otherwise have missed.
Broadly: anything ordinary and necessary for the business. Gear, lighting, computers, software, studio costs, travel to shoots, marketing, education, insurance, professional fees, and the business-use share of mixed personal items like your phone and home internet. This checklist breaks all of that into 350+ specific line items.
Often yes, by converting personal equipment to business use at its fair market value on the date you started using it for the business. The rules around this are specific — worth asking an accountant rather than guessing.
Yes, practically speaking. Keep digital copies. The Receipt Log tab in the free photography business spreadsheet exists for exactly this, and the two files are designed to be used together.
It depends on your car and your mileage, and you generally have to pick an approach early and stay consistent. Track your business miles either way — you can't choose the better option retroactively if you never recorded the trips.
No. It's a checklist of items photographers commonly deduct, to prompt your memory and organise your records. Tax law varies by country and state and changes year to year. Have a qualified tax professional review your actual return.
This checklist is educational and is not tax advice. Deductibility depends on your jurisdiction, your business structure and your individual circumstances, and tax law changes year to year. Have a qualified accountant or tax professional review your return before you file.
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