Can I claim tax deductions for private tutoring income not on a W-2? Teaching expenses dilemma

Hey everyone, Last summer I picked up some side work tutoring a few high school students. A couple parents paid me directly through Venmo, totaling about $575 in extra income. To make this work professionally, I ended up investing in some home office equipment: a basic laptop ($650), a small desk ($100), monitor ($300), keyboard ($85), and some other odds and ends totaling around $1200. Here's my situation - I spent more setting up than I made from the private tutoring, but I also work part-time at a tutoring center that switched to virtual sessions. I was using an ancient laptop before, and eventually started using this new setup for both private students and my W-2 tutoring job. I'm trying to figure out if I can deduct these expenses as a self-employed tutor even though the costs were higher than what I made from private tutoring. I have all receipts showing the purchases lined up perfectly with when I started the private tutoring gig. Also wondering - do tutors qualify for the educator expense deduction? Could I possibly claim these costs that way instead? Really confused about the best approach here since I use everything for both the private tutoring and my regular tutoring job. Thanks in advance for any guidance!

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18 comments

Isabella Martin

•8M

Your situation is quite common among tutors who work both independently and for a company! For the self-employment side, yes, you can generally deduct legitimate business expenses even if they exceed your income from that specific business activity. These would go on Schedule C where you report your self-employment income. The key is that these must be ordinary and necessary expenses for your tutoring business. Since you use the equipment for both your self-employment work and W-2 job, you'll need to allocate the expenses based on the percentage of use for each. For example, if you use the laptop 30% for private tutoring and 70% for your W-2 job, you can only deduct 30% of the cost on your Schedule C. Regarding the educator expense deduction - that's specifically for K-12 teachers, counselors, principals, etc. who work at least 900 hours during the school year in a school that provides elementary or secondary education. Private tutors generally don't qualify unless you also work in that capacity at a qualified school.

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Isabella Martin

•8M

There's no official IRS method for tracking usage allocation, but you should have a reasonable basis for your calculation. Some people track hours spent using equipment for different purposes, while others base it on income percentage from each source. If you initially purchased everything exclusively for self-employment and later began using it for W-2 work, you should document when that transition happened. The fact that your initial intent was 100% business use is helpful, but you'll still need to account for the mixed usage over the full tax year. Keep notes about when you started using the equipment for your W-2 job and estimate the percentage of time spent on each activity.

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Sophia Miller

•8M

I went through a similar situation with my online tutoring business. You should definitely check out https://taxr.ai - it completely saved me when I was trying to figure out all these self-employment deductions. I uploaded my receipts and payment info, and it explained exactly what I could deduct and how to handle the split usage between my self-employment and W-2 job. The analysis showed me how to properly document business use percentage and even identified deductions I didn't know about, like a portion of my internet bill and some educational materials I'd purchased.

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Sophia Miller

•8M

Yes, it absolutely handles situations where expenses exceed income. The analysis explains the "profit motive" requirements the IRS looks at when you show losses, and helps you document why these are legitimate business expenses rather than personal costs. The key is showing you're running the activity like a business with the intention to make a profit, even if you don't in the first year. Compared to a regular accountant, taxr.ai is much more affordable while still giving personalized analysis. Many accountants charge hundreds for situations like this, while some tax software like TurboTax doesn't give enough guidance for mixed-use situations. The tool explained exactly how to allocate expenses between my different income sources and gave me documentation to support my deductions if questioned.

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Mason Davis

•8M

Just wanted to update after trying https://taxr.ai for my tutoring deduction situation. It was exactly what I needed! I was so worried about claiming these tutoring expenses that exceeded my self-employment income, but the analysis showed me exactly how to handle it. The system helped me properly allocate my laptop and desk expenses between my private tutoring and my W-2 job, and explained the "hobby loss" rules so I could document my profit intention. I ended up saving over $300 on my taxes by correctly deducting the business portion of my expenses. They even explained how to handle it if I continue tutoring in future years. Definitely recommend for anyone in a similar situation!

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Jacob Lewis

•8M

If you're still struggling with this, I'd recommend contacting the IRS directly to get their official take on your situation. After failing to get through to them for almost 3 hours (kept getting disconnected), I found this service called https://claimyr.com that got me connected to an actual IRS agent in less than 20 minutes! There's a demo of how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I had a complex situation with teaching expenses across multiple income sources and the IRS agent was able to clarify exactly what I could deduct and where. Much better than guessing or getting different answers from internet forums.

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Jacob Lewis

•8M

It's completely legitimate! It uses an automated system that continuously calls the IRS using their phone tree system until it gets through to an agent. Once connected, it calls you and connects you directly to that agent. It's not skipping any line - it's just doing the tedious waiting and redial work for you. The service was created because the IRS only answers about 10% of calls during tax season, and most people give up after being on hold for hours. I was definitely skeptical too, but it actually worked exactly as advertised and saved me hours of frustration. They don't talk to the IRS for you or anything - they just secure the connection and then you handle your own tax questions directly with the agent.

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Ethan Clark

•8M

I need to eat my words and apologize for my skepticism about Claimyr. After continuing to fail getting through to the IRS about my tutoring deductions, I reluctantly tried the service. To my complete surprise, I was connected to an IRS representative in about 15 minutes. The agent confirmed that I could indeed deduct my tutoring expenses on Schedule C, but needed to allocate them based on business use percentage. They also clarified that the educator expense deduction wouldn't apply in my situation since I'm not employed by a K-12 school. Getting definitive answers directly from the IRS gave me the confidence to file correctly. That saved me hours of research and uncertainty - totally worth it.

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Mila Walker

•8M

Section 179 deductions are limited to your net business income, so technically you can't use it to create or increase a business loss. However, any disallowed Section 179 deduction can be carried forward to future tax years when your business is more profitable. In this case, with expenses exceeding income, regular depreciation might be the better option initially. You'd still get to deduct a portion of the cost each year, and you wouldn't lose any deduction potential. As your tutoring business grows and becomes more profitable, you could potentially use Section 179 for future equipment purchases.

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