A website bug fix by a contractor belongs on Line 11, contract labor.
Why line 11
Line 21 is for incidental repairs and maintenance of business property, and in practice that means things you can touch: machines, tools, buildings and their systems. A developer fixing a broken checkout is a person you do not treat as an employee performing a service for your business, which is contract labor on line 11. Plenty of filers instead group ongoing site costs on line 8 with hosting and design, and that survives too as long as you are consistent and the work is really a fix rather than a capital build.
Stop looking up lines one at a time. ClaryBook totals your year into an IRS Schedule C worksheet in form order, Part I and Part II line by line, so a website bug fix by a contractor lands on Line 11 without you sorting it.
Start for freeWhat a website bug fix by a contractor is confused with
- Line 21, repairs and maintenance
- Line 21 is repairs to tangible property, so a server rack or a machine is line 21 while code work on a website is not.
- Line 8, advertising
- If the site is a marketing site and hosting and design already sit on line 8, keeping routine fixes there is consistent, because the choice is presentation rather than deductibility.
- Form 4562, form 4562, carried to schedule c line 13
- A fix is a current expense, while a rebuild that adds new functionality is a software cost to be capitalised and recovered on Form 4562.
Examples that belong on line 11
- $450 to a freelance developer to fix a broken checkout
- A $180 invoice to patch a contact form that stopped sending
- $1,200 to an agency for a month of fixes and updates
- $90 for an urgent fix after a plugin update broke the layout
- $300 to repair a broken booking calendar
What does not belong here
- The original site build, which is a capital cost.
- A redesign that adds new functionality.
- Hosting and the domain renewal, which sit on line 8.
- Payments to an employee developer, which are wages on line 26.
What to keep
Keep the invoice describing the work as a fix, a signed W-9 for an individual contractor, and a 1099-NEC if the year's payments to that contractor reached the filing threshold.
Other expenses on line 11
| Expense | Line |
|---|---|
| a freelance developer or designer | Schedule C, Line 11 |
| a freelance editor or bookkeeper | Schedule C, Line 11 |
| a freelance photographer | Schedule C, Line 11 |
| a staffing agency invoice | Schedule C, Line 11 |
| a subcontractor on a client project | Schedule C, Line 11 |
| a virtual assistant | Schedule C, Line 11 |
Related lookups
- Where does a laptop repair go on Schedule C?
- Where does Google Ads spend go on Schedule C?
- Where does a website build go on Schedule C?
Sources
This page explains how Schedule C lines work. It is general information, not tax advice for your situation. If an expense is large or the answer turns on a fact about your business, confirm it with your tax preparer.
Looking for a different expense? The full Schedule C line lookup has every line from 8 to 27 with the expenses that belong on each, and Schedule C expense categories walks the whole form in order.
Stop looking up lines one at a time. ClaryBook totals your year into an IRS Schedule C worksheet in form order, Part I and Part II line by line, so a website bug fix by a contractor lands on Line 11 without you sorting it.
Start for free