First one in the series. Free, every time, no catch. Here are nine things that separate a Schedule C you can defend from one you cannot. 1. Make them open a separate bank account. Not a suggestion. One account doing double duty is the fastest way to lose a case you should have won, because now every deposit is a question and every withdrawal is a fight. 2. Decide business or hobby on purpose. Profit in three of the last five years is a presumption, not a rule, and the factors are what actually decide it. If your client has posted losses year after year, write down the business reasons now, while you remember them. Not when the letter shows up two years later. 3. The business code on line B is not filler. It decides which crowd the IRS compares your client against. Put a landscaper under the wrong code and a completely normal return starts looking strange next to the wrong neighbors. 4. Reconcile gross receipts to the paper before you type a number. Add up every 1099-NEC and 1099-K first. If the forms total more than what the client told you, find out why now. Finding out later means an amended return and a conversation you will not enjoy. 5. Stop dumping things into Other expenses. If there is a named line for it, use the named line. A fat Part V with a vague label is one of the easiest things in the world to spot from the outside. 6. Exclusive use means exclusive. The home office has two tests, exclusive use and regular use, and the first one is where most claims fall apart. The simplified method is 5 dollars a square foot up to 300 square feet. The regular method needs Form 8829 and it is capped by business income, so a loss year does not get you a bigger deduction. 7. The log is the deduction. Mileage without a contemporaneous log is not a deduction, no matter how honest the number is. Date, miles, where, and why. Get the app on their phone in January, not in April. 8. The home office unlocks the mileage. This is the one most preparers walk right past. When the home office qualifies, the drive from home to the first stop stops being a commute and becomes business miles. For a contractor running five stops a day, that is often worth more than the office deduction itself.

Every preparer has that one client question that's hard to answer on the spot. What's yours? Drop it below, and I'll break down a clean, confident way to explain it. No question is too basic; someone else is wondering the same thing.