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FOR FREELANCERS ABROAD

Working for yourself abroad,
made clearer.

For a freelance designer, writer or consultant abroad with one sole-proprietor business, and a spouse with one of their own: see what the Premier plan prepares on a 2025 federal return, the records to gather, and the cases outside the plans.

Compare the plans

Eligible 2025 federal returns · Priced per return

Designer making notes beside her laptop in a sunlit studio
One freelance business, prepared with your return.
THE PREMIER PLAN

Everything in Standard, plus your business.

Premier includes everything in Standard plus preparation for one eligible freelance or sole-proprietor business per person; on a joint return, your spouse can have one too. Example occupations describe who it is intended for; they are not automatic eligibility decisions.

FormWhat it covers
Schedule CEach eligible business's income, expenses, profit or loss and home-office amount: one for you, and one for your spouse on a joint return.
Schedule SEThe applicable self-employment tax calculation, one for each of you.
Form 4562Ordinary depreciation of business assets. Section 179 expensing and depreciation of vehicles and other listed property are not included.
Form 8829The regular home-office method for one business in one home. Daycare use and casualty losses are not included.
Form 8858One foreign branch of your own business, for 2025, when the branch keeps its books in US dollars.
Form 8995The qualified business income deduction by the simple computation. Only income from work done in the United States counts, so a business run abroad gets no deduction.
Form 7206 (limited)Limited preparation of an eligible self-employed health-insurance deduction.

Additional forms do not expand every tax situation. Standard's inherited coverage (eligible employment income, bank interest, ordinary dividends, the foreign earned income exclusion and the foreign tax credit) keeps its own case limits. See every form and its limits

For freelancersFREELANCE & SELF-EMPLOYED

Premier

$149per federal returnUSD

For freelancers and independent contractors: one business for you, and one for your spouse.

  • Everything in Standard
  • One business each for you and your spouse
  • Self-employment tax calculation
  • Home office and business depreciation, if eligible
SUPPORTED FORMS
+ Schedule C+ Schedule SE+ 8995+ 7206+ 8829+ 4562+ 8858+ Schedule M (Form 8858)
Coverage & limits

One eligible freelance or sole-proprietor business per person: on a joint return, you and your spouse can each have one, with a Schedule C for each business and a Schedule SE for each of you. Form 4562 covers ordinary depreciation of business assets; section 179 expensing and depreciation of vehicles and other listed property are not included. Form 8829 covers the regular home-office method for one business in one home; a home office for more than one business, more than one home, daycare use and casualty losses are not included. The simplified home-office method uses Schedule C instead. Form 8858 covers one foreign branch of your own business for 2025 when the branch keeps its books in US dollars. A branch whose books are in another currency, a foreign disregarded entity and other unusual branch situations are not included. A business run through a company or LLC set up abroad is refused by name. Statutory-employee cases are excluded, and self-employed health insurance has additional limits; a policy set up through an S corporation you own more than 2% of is included. Form 8995 prepares the qualified business income deduction by the simple computation, for 2019 to 2025. Only income from work done in the United States counts, so a business run abroad gets no deduction. Income above the form's limit needs Form 8995-A, which is not prepared, so that return is refused by name. More than one business for one person is not included in these plans.

Price in USD, per federal return. A plan is not a guarantee of eligibility.

HOW YOUR BUSINESS IS ENTERED

Three steps, from your own records.

Preparation uses the figures and descriptions you provide. Keep the records behind them so you can check the prepared schedule.

  1. 1

    Income

    Gather client-payment records and any income statements, including Form 1099-NEC when applicable. Enter the business name and the receipts shown in your records.

  2. 2

    Expenses

    Enter each expense total under the Schedule C category it belongs to, or as a described other expense. Keep receipts, and separate any personal share before entering a business amount.

  3. 3

    Review

    Check the business's profit or loss, any eligible simplified home-office deduction and the applicable self-employment tax calculation against what you entered.

SELF-EMPLOYMENT TAX ABROAD

The exclusion does not reach SE tax.

Self-employment tax covers Social Security and Medicare, and Schedule SE calculates it for applicable earnings. Living abroad changes some parts of the picture and not others.

RuleWhat it means for a freelancer abroad
Foreign earned income exclusionQualifying foreign earnings can be excluded for regular income tax without reducing self-employment tax.
Deductible part of SE taxThe preparation also calculates the deductible employer-equivalent portion of self-employment tax for the income-tax return.
Social security agreementsAn agreement can mean self-employment income is covered by only one country's system. Whether US self-employment tax applies depends on the specific agreement and your facts.
Foreign coverage statementTo claim foreign-system coverage, the IRS requires a statement from the foreign agency (or, if the country will not issue one, a certificate of coverage requested from SSA). A copy is attached to the return.
Read the foreign earned income exclusion guide
HOME OFFICE AND HEALTH INSURANCE

Two deductions, with real limits.

SIMPLIFIED METHOD

Home office

The Premier plan includes eligible simplified home-office preparation on Schedule C, or the regular method on Form 8829 for one business in one home. Preparation asks for your home and business-area measurements and qualifying-use facts.

The simplified option changes the calculation, not the qualification rules. Regular and exclusive business use generally matters, the deduction is limited by business income, and working at home by itself is not enough.

FORM 7206 (LIMITED)

Self-employed health insurance

Current preparation handles qualifying premiums connected to one business with net profit, subject to the deduction's earned-income limit. Foreign earned income exclusion attributed to the business can reduce the amount available. A policy set up through an S corporation you own more than 2% of is measured against the pay on its Form W-2 to you.

Months when you were eligible for an employer-subsidized health plan can be excluded even if you did not join it, so check policy and eligibility details before supplying a premium total. Marketplace policies and premiums split across several businesses are outside the current offer.

Hands sorting papers into folders on a wooden table
RECORDS TO GATHER

Your 2025 business, on paper.

A preparation checklist for 2025 records. It is not a request to email sensitive documents, and not a complete legal recordkeeping standard.

  • Business detailsBusiness name, activity and applicable tax identification details.
  • IncomeClient-payment totals, invoices and any 1099 statements.
  • ExpensesExpense descriptions, business amounts and supporting receipts.
  • CurrencyOriginal currency figures and the conversion records behind your USD totals.
  • Home office, if claimedHome-office measurements and qualifying-use facts.
  • Health insurance, if relevantPolicy premiums and employer-plan eligibility by month.
  • Social security exemption, if relied onThe coverage statement and agreement details.
  • Everything elseForeign tax payments, travel dates and any other income.
See the full documents checklist
OUTSIDE THIS OFFER

What the plans leave out.

These boundaries describe what the plans include.

QUICK ANSWERS

Freelancer questions.

Compare the plans
Does the foreign earned income exclusion cut my self-employment tax?

No. Qualifying foreign earnings can be excluded for regular income tax, but the exclusion does not reduce self-employment tax.

Is everything I buy through my business account deductible?

Not automatically. Deductible business costs generally need to be ordinary and necessary, and the personal share of mixed costs generally is not deductible.

Can I claim the home office just because I work from home?

Working at home by itself is not enough. Regular and exclusive business use generally matters, and the deduction is limited by business income.

Will you get my foreign coverage certificate?

No. You obtain the statement from the foreign agency (or the SSA certificate of coverage) and supply it as evidence.

Official sources

Last reviewed 22 October 2026

Woman using her laptop at a sunlit café abroad
ONE BUSINESS, ONE RETURN

See where your freelance work fits.

Compare the plans and their prices for eligible 2025 federal returns.

Compare the plans