Enter gross receipts from your trade or business. Include amounts you received in your trade or business that were properly shown on Forms 1099-MISC. If the total amounts that were reported in box 7 of Forms 1099-MISC are more than the total you are reporting on line 1, attach a statement explaining the difference.

Report on line 6 amounts from finance reserve income, scrap sales, bad debts you recovered, interest (such as on notes and accounts receivable), state gasoline or fuel tax refunds you got in 2003, credit for Federal tax paid on gasoline or other fuels claimed on your 2002 Form 1040, prizes and awards related to your trade or business, and other kinds of miscellaneous business income. Include amounts you received in your trade or business as shown on Form 1099-PATR. Also, include any recapture of the deduction for clean-fuel vehicles used in your business and clean-fuel vehicle refueling property. For details, see Pub. 535.

If the business use percentage of any listed property (defined in the instructions for line 13 on page C-4) decreased to 50% or less in 2003, report on this line any recapture of excess depreciation, including any section 179 expense deduction. Use Form 4797 to figure the recapture. Also, if the business use percentage drops to 50% or less on leased listed property (other than a vehicle), include on this line any inclusion amount. See Pub. 946 to figure the amount.

You can deduct the actual expenses of running your car or truck or take the standard mileage rate. You must use actual expenses if you used your vehicle for hire (such as a taxicab) or you used more than one vehicle simultaneously in your business (such as in fleet operations). You cannot use actual expenses for a leased vehicle if you previously used the standard mileage rate for that vehicle.

You can take the standard mileage rate for 2003 only if you:

If you deduct actual expenses:

If you take the standard mileage rate, multiply the number of business miles by 36 cents. Add to this amount your parking fees and tolls, and enter the total on line 9. Do not deduct depreciation, rent or lease payments, or your actual operating expenses.

For details, see Pub. 463.

Enter the total cost of contract labor for the tax year. Do not include contract labor deducted elsewhere on your return such as contract labor that you included in Part III. Also, do not include salaries and wages paid to your employees, instead see line 26.

Enter your deduction for depletion on this line. If you have timber depletion, attach Form T. See Pub. 535 for details.

Deduct contributions to employee benefit programs that are not an incidental part of a pension or profit-sharing plan included on line 19. Examples are accident and health plans, group-term life insurance, and dependent care assistance programs.

Do not include on line 14 any contributions you made on your behalf as a self-employed person to an accident and health plan or for group-term life insurance. You may be able to deduct on Form 1040, line 29, the amount you paid for health insurance on behalf of yourself, your spouse, and dependents, even if you do not itemize your deductions. See the instructions for Form 1040, line 29, for details.

Deduct premiums paid for business insurance on line 15. Deduct on line 14 amounts paid for employee accident and health insurance. Do not deduct amounts credited to a reserve for self-insurance or premiums paid for a policy that pays for your lost earnings due to sickness or disability. For details, see Pub. 535.

Include on this line fees for tax advice related to your business and for preparation of the tax forms related to your business.

Enter your deduction for contributions to a pension, profit-sharing, or annuity plan, or plans for the benefit of your employees. If the plan included you as a self-employed person, enter contributions made as an employer on your behalf on Form 1040, line 30, not on Schedule C.

Generally, you must file the applicable form listed below if you maintain a pension, profit-sharing, or other funded-deferred compensation plan. The filing requirement is not affected by whether or not the plan qualified under the Internal Revenue Code, or whether or not you claim a deduction for the current tax year. There is a penalty for failure to timely file these forms.

For details, see Pub. 560.

If you rented or leased vehicles, machinery, or equipment, enter on line 20a the business portion of your rental cost. But if you leased a vehicle for a term of 30 days or more, you may have to reduce your deduction by an amount called the inclusion amount.

See Pub. 463 to figure your inclusion amount.

Enter on line 20b amounts paid to rent or lease other property, such as office space in a building.

Deduct the cost of repairs and maintenance. Include labor, supplies, and other items that do not add to the value or increase the life of the property. Do not deduct the value of your own labor. Do not deduct amounts spent to restore or replace property; they must be capitalized.

Generally, you can deduct the cost of supplies only to the extent you actually consumed and used them in your business during the tax year (unless you deducted them in a prior tax year). However, if you had incidental supplies on hand for which you kept no inventories or records of use, you may deduct the cost of supplies you actually purchased during the tax year, provided that method clearly reflects income.

You can deduct the following taxes and licenses on this line.

Do not deduct the following on this line.

Enter your expenses for lodging and transportation connected with overnight travel for business while away from your tax home. Generally, your tax home is your main place of business regardless of where you maintain your family home. You cannot deduct expenses paid or incurred in connection with employment away from home if that period of employment exceeds 1 year. Also, you cannot deduct travel expenses for your spouse, your dependent, or any other individual unless that person is your employee, the travel is for a bona fide business purpose, and the expenses would otherwise be deductible by that person.

Do not include expenses for meals and entertainment on this line. Instead, see the instructions for lines 24b and 24c on this page.

Instead of keeping records of your actual incidental expenses, you can use an optional method for deducting incidental expenses only if you did not pay or incur meal expenses on a day you were traveling away from your tax home. The amount of the deduction is $2 a day for the period from January 1 through October 31, 2003, and $3 a day for the period from November 1 through December 31, 2003. Incidental expenses include fees and tips given to porters, baggage carriers, bellhops, hotel maids, stewards or stewardesses and others on ships, and hotel servants in foreign countries. They do not include expenses for laundry, cleaning and pressing of clothing, lodging taxes, or the costs of telegrams or telephone calls. You cannot use this method on any day that you use the standard meal allowance (as explained in the instructions for lines 24b and 24c).

You cannot deduct expenses for attending a foreign convention unless it is directly related to your trade or business and it is as reasonable for the meeting to be held outside the North American area as within it. These rules apply to both employers and employees. Other rules apply to luxury water travel.

For details, see Pub. 463.

On line 24b, enter your total business meal and entertainment expenses. Include meals expenses while traveling away from home for business. Instead of the actual cost of your meals while traveling away from home, you may use the standard meal allowance for your daily meals and incidental expenses. Under this method, you deduct a specified amount, depending on where you travel, instead of keeping records of your actual meal expenses. However, you must still keep records to prove the time, place, and business purpose of your travel.

The standard meal allowance is the Federal M&IE rate. You can find these rates on the Internet at www.policyworks.gov/perdiem. Click on 2003 Domestic Per Diem Rates for the period January 1, 2003–September 30, 2003 and on 2004 Domestic Per Diem Rates for the period October 1, 2003–December 31, 2003. For locations outside the continental United States, the applicable rates are published monthly. You can find these rates on the Internet at www.state.gov/m/a/als/prdm/2003.

See Pub. 463 for details on how to figure your deduction using the standard meal allowance, including special rules for partial days of travel.

Business meal expenses are deductible only if they are (a) directly related to or associated with the active conduct of your trade or business, (b) not lavish or extravagant, and (c) incurred while you or your employee is present at the meal.

You cannot deduct any expense paid or incurred for a facility (such as a yacht or hunting lodge) used for any activity usually considered entertainment, amusement, or recreation.

Also, you cannot deduct membership dues for any club organized for business, pleasure, recreation, or other social purpose. This includes country clubs, golf and athletic clubs, airline and hotel clubs, and clubs operated to provide meals under conditions favorable to business discussion. But it does not include civic or public service organizations, professional organizations (such as bar and medical associations), business leagues, trade associations, chambers of commerce, boards of trade, and real estate boards, unless a principal purpose of the organization is to entertain, or provide entertainment facilities for, members or their guests.

There are exceptions to these rules as well as other rules that apply to sky-box rentals and tickets to entertainment events. See Pub. 463.

Generally, you may deduct only 50% of your business meal and entertainment expenses, including meals incurred while away from home on business. For individuals subject to the Department of Transportation (DOT) hours of service limits, that percentage is increased to 65% for business meals consumed during, or incident to, any period of duty for which those limits are in effect. Individuals subject to the DOT hours of service limits include the following persons:

However, you may fully deduct meals, incidentals, and entertainment furnished or reimbursed to an employee if you properly treat the expense as wages subject to withholding. You may also fully deduct meals, incidentals, and entertainment provided to a nonemployee to the extent the expenses are includible in the gross income of that person and reported on Form 1099-MISC. See Pub. 535 for details and other exceptions.

If you provide day-care in your home, see Pub. 587 for information on deducting the cost of meals and snacks you provide to your day-care recipients.

Figure how much of the amount on line 24b is not deductible and enter that amount on line 24c.

Deduct only utility expenses for your trade or business.

Enter the total salaries and wages for the tax year. Do not include salaries and wages deducted elsewhere on your return or amounts paid to yourself. Reduce your deduction by the current year credits claimed on:

If you provided taxable fringe benefits to your employees, such as personal use of a car, do not deduct as wages the amount applicable to depreciation and other expenses claimed elsewhere.

If you have a loss, the amount of loss you can deduct this year may be limited. Go to line 32 before entering your loss on line 31. If you answered “No” to Question G on Schedule C, also see the Instructions for Form 8582. Enter the net profit or deductible loss here. Combine this amount with any profit or loss from other businesses, and enter the total on Form 1040, line 12, and Schedule SE, line 2. Estates and trusts should enter the total on Form 1041, line 3.

If you have a net profit on line 31, this amount is earned income and may qualify you for the earned income credit. See the instructions for Form 1040, line 63, for details.

Your inventories can be valued at cost; cost or market value, whichever is lower; or any other method approved by the IRS. However, you are required to use cost if you are using the cash method of accounting.

If you are changing your method of accounting beginning with 2003, refigure last year's closing inventory using your new method of accounting and enter the result on line 35. If there is a difference between last year's closing inventory and the refigured amount, attach an explanation and take it into account when figuring your section 481(a) adjustment. See the example on page C-2 for details.

If you account for inventoriable items in the same manner as materials and supplies that are not incidental, enter on line 41 the portion of your raw materials and merchandise purchased for resale that are included on line 40 and were not sold during the year.