Schedule C

15 — Insurance (Other Than Health) Updated for tax year 2025

What this line means

The cost of business insurance premiums you paid during the year, excluding health insurance. This covers general liability insurance, professional liability (errors and omissions), product liability, commercial property insurance, business interruption insurance, workers’ compensation, malpractice insurance, and business-use vehicle insurance (if using actual expenses method). Your personal health insurance is not deductible here.

Does this apply to you?

  • You carry general liability insurance for your business
  • You pay for professional liability or errors and omissions (E&O) insurance
  • You have workers’ compensation insurance
  • You insure business equipment, inventory, or a commercial space
  • You pay for malpractice insurance as a self-employed professional

Easy to overlook

Business portion of personal insurance policies If you use your personal vehicle for business and you are using the actual expenses method (not standard mileage rate), the business-use percentage of your auto insurance premium is deductible here. The same applies if you have a rider on your homeowner’s insurance for business equipment stored at home. 1 [SOURCE: General filing pattern — missed business insurance deductions]

Cyber liability and data breach insurance If your business handles customer data — email lists, payment information, personal records — cyber liability insurance is a deductible business expense. This type of insurance is increasingly common for freelancers and online businesses, but many sole proprietors do not think to deduct it. 2 [SOURCE: IRS Schedule C instructions — Line 15]

Watch out for this

Deducting your personal health insurance premiums on this line. Health insurance for the sole proprietor goes on Schedule 1 of Form 1040 (line 17), not on Schedule C. Health insurance for employees goes on line 14. Line 15 is specifically for non-health business insurance.

  • Line 14 — Schedule C — Employee benefit programs; employee health insurance goes there
  • Schedule 1, Line 17 — Form 1040 — Self-employed health insurance deduction
  • Line 9 — Schedule C — Car expenses; if using standard mileage rate, auto insurance is already included

Footnotes

  1. IRS Schedule C (Form 1040) Instructions. See also IRS Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf ↩

  2. IRS Schedule C (Form 1040) Instructions, Line 15. https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1040sc ↩

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