| Course | ACC 330 Federal Taxation I |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 5 |
| Paper type | undergraduate individual tax assignment on self-employment deductions and taxes |
| Length | About 1,020 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Southern New Hampshire University |
| Program | BS Accounting |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for ACC 330 Module 5
From Receipts to Profit: Schedule C, Self-Employment Tax and the QBI Deduction for a Composite Freelance Bookkeeper, Tax Year 2024
[Student Name]
Southern New Hampshire University
ACC 330: Federal Taxation I
Module Five Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The organization, setting and figures below are a composite written as a model document. No real employer, client, colleague or patient is described.
From Receipts to Profit: Schedule C, Self-Employment Tax and the QBI Deduction for a Composite Freelance Bookkeeper, Tax Year 2024
Introduction
Elena runs a freelance bookkeeping practice from a spare room in her home in Columbus, Ohio, serving about twenty small businesses. She is a sole proprietor, so the practice's results go on a Schedule C attached to the joint return she files with her husband for tax year 2024. Her profit is subject to income tax and also to self-employment tax, and it may qualify for the 20 percent qualified business income deduction. This assignment tests each of her expenses, computes her net profit and then works through self-employment tax and the QBI deduction in the order the forms require.
Expenses
A business expense is deductible if it is ordinary and necessary for the business and not personal or capital in nature. Table 1 lists Elena's 2024 expenses and the treatment of each.
Table 1. Schedule C Expenses, Tax Year 2024
| Expense | Facts | Deductible amount |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting software subscriptions | Used only for clients | $1,100 |
| Vehicle | 3,100 business miles to client offices and the bank at 67 cents | 2,077 |
| Mobile phone | $960 for the year, half business use | 480 |
| Continuing education | Payroll and tax update courses that maintain existing skills | 900 |
| Home office, simplified method | 200 square feet used regularly and exclusively, at $5 | 1,000 |
| Supplies and postage | Paper, toner, mailing | 743 |
| Total expenses | $6,300 |
Several items needed judgment. The vehicle deduction counts only trips from her home office to clients and the bank; because her home office is her principal place of business, those trips are business travel rather than commuting (Internal Revenue Service, 2024c). She used the standard mileage rate, which replaces actual operating costs and depreciation; her actual costs for the business share of a paid-off 2016 sedan would have been lower, so the standard rate is the better choice. The phone is a mixed-use item and only the business half is deductible. The courses maintain skills she already uses, so they qualify; a degree program qualifying her for a new profession would not.
Home Office: Simplified or Regular Method
The spare room meets the regular and exclusive use test: it holds only her desk, files and printer, and clients never use it for anything else. Under the simplified method, she deducts $5 per square foot up to 300 square feet, here $1,000, with no depreciation (Internal Revenue Service, 2024a). The regular method would allocate 10 percent of the home's actual costs, mortgage interest, property tax, utilities and insurance, plus depreciation on 10 percent of the building, which for a home of their size would come to roughly $2,500.
The regular method gives a larger deduction, but there are reasons to prefer the simplified one this year. The couple sold their previous home in June and moved; the regular method would require allocating two homes' costs for parts of the year and claiming depreciation that must be recaptured and taxed at up to 25 percent when the home is sold, even if the rest of the gain is excluded. The simplified method avoids depreciation entirely. The extra $1,500 deduction under the regular method would save roughly $350 in combined taxes, a modest amount against the record keeping and future recapture, so the simplified method is reasonable.
Net Profit
Table 2. Schedule C Summary
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross receipts | $41,800 |
| Total expenses | (6,300) |
| Net profit | $35,500 |
Self-Employment Tax
A self-employed person pays both the employee and employer shares of Social Security and Medicare tax. The tax applies to 92.35 percent of net profit, which mirrors the fact that employers deduct their half before computing an employee's wages.
Table 3. Self-Employment Tax
| Step | Amount |
|---|---|
| Net profit | $35,500 |
| Net earnings from self-employment (x 92.35%) | 32,784 |
| Self-employment tax (x 15.3%) | 5,016 |
| Deduction for one half, in computing AGI | 2,508 |
Because Jordan's wages and Elena's self-employment earnings are taxed separately for Social Security, and her earnings are far below the 2024 wage base of $168,600, the full 15.3 percent applies.
Qualified Business Income Deduction
The QBI deduction allows up to 20 percent of qualified business income from a sole proprietorship (Internal Revenue Service, 2024b). Qualified business income is net profit reduced by the deductible part of self-employment tax and any self-employed retirement or health insurance deductions: $35,500 minus $2,508, or $32,992. Twenty percent of that is $6,598.
Two limits must be checked. Accounting is a specified service trade or business, which loses the deduction at high incomes, but the limit begins only when taxable income before the deduction exceeds $383,900 for joint filers in 2024; the couple's is about $84,000, so the full deduction is allowed. A second ceiling, one fifth of taxable income figured before this deduction and after removing the couple's $7,800 of long-term gains, comes to about $15,300, which is well above $6,598. Elena's deduction is $6,598.
Planning Note
Elena could reduce both income tax and her QBI base by contributing to a SEP-IRA, up to 20 percent of net earnings after the self-employment tax deduction, about $6,600 for 2024. The contribution would save roughly 12 percent in income tax, partly offset because it also reduces the QBI deduction. Since the couple has no current retirement savings for Elena, a contribution before the return's due date is worth discussing.
A second planning point concerns records. The mileage deduction depends on a log showing the date, destination and purpose of each business trip; without it, the IRS can disallow the whole amount even when the travel clearly happened. Elena keeps her log in a phone app that exports to a spreadsheet each month, which is the kind of contemporaneous record the substantiation rules expect. The same discipline applies to the phone: a short sample of two months' calls, showing roughly half for clients, supports the 50 percent business share. For a practice this size, a few minutes of record keeping each week protects about $2,500 of deductions.
Conclusion
Elena's Schedule C shows net profit of $35,500 after $6,300 of deductible expenses, including standard mileage and a simplified home office deduction. She owes $5,016 of self-employment tax, deducts $2,508 of it in arriving at adjusted gross income and receives a $6,598 qualified business income deduction. Each figure flows into the complete return in Project Two.
References
Internal Revenue Service. (2024a). Business use of your home (Publication 587). U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Internal Revenue Service. (2024b). Instructions for Form 8995: Qualified business income deduction simplified computation. U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Internal Revenue Service. (2024c). Travel, gift, and car expenses (Publication 463). U.S. Department of the Treasury.
What the ACC 330 Module 5 instructions ask for
The Module Five assignment in ACC 330 usually asks you to compute a sole proprietor's business income and the taxes and deductions that follow from it. Expect to classify expenses as deductible business costs, personal costs or capital expenditures, apply limits for meals, vehicles and home offices, compute net profit on Schedule C, calculate self-employment tax on 92.35 percent of net earnings, deduct half of it in arriving at adjusted gross income and compute the qualified business income deduction. Some versions also ask about retirement contributions or health insurance for the self-employed. Follow the order the forms follow, since each figure feeds the next, and state the tax year whose rates and limits you use.
How this ACC 330 Module 5 business deductions assignment example is built
The sample builds Elena's Schedule C for 2024. Receipts are $41,800. Expenses are software at $1,100, 3,100 business miles at the 67-cent standard rate for $2,077, half of a $960 phone bill as the business share, $900 of continuing education, a $1,000 simplified home office deduction for 200 square feet, and $743 of supplies, totaling $6,300. Net profit is $35,500. Self-employment tax is 15.3 percent of $32,784, or $5,016, and $2,508 is deductible. Qualified business income is $32,992, and because the couple's income is far below the 2024 threshold, the bookkeeping practice's status as a specified service business does not matter; the deduction is $6,598.
Where the ACC 330 Module 5 rubric puts the points
Rubrics for the ACC 330 business deductions assignment typically score the treatment of each expense, net profit, self-employment tax, the deduction for half of it, the qualified business income deduction and the explanations. Top papers justify each expense under the ordinary and necessary standard, separate business from personal use, apply the current year's mileage rate and home office limits, compute self-employment tax on 92.35 percent of net earnings and reduce qualified business income by the deductible part of self-employment tax. Graders reward comparing methods where a choice exists. Common deductions include taking self-employment tax on the full profit, ignoring the taxable income limit on the QBI deduction and deducting commuting miles.
ACC 330 Module 5 help: the mistakes that cost points
The usual errors here are ordering errors: computing the QBI deduction on net profit without subtracting the deductible half of self-employment tax, or applying the 92.35 percent factor twice. Others deduct a phone or vehicle in full when part of the use is personal, or claim a home office for a room that doubles as a guest bedroom. If your problem involves a business with employees, a vehicle bought this year with depreciation or a taxpayer above the QBI threshold, the same sequence applies and we can work it with your numbers. Writing each figure on the line of the form where it lands keeps the order straight and makes the work easy to check.
Get ACC 330 Module 5 written to your instructions
Send the ACC 330 Module 5 facts and instructions. The paper will test each expense, choose between methods where the law allows, compute net profit, self-employment tax and the QBI deduction in the right order, and explain each step for your tax year. No charge applies to your first one, and two days is the usual wait. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Southern New Hampshire University document.
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ACC 330 Module 5 questions, answered
Where can I find a free ACC 330 Module 5 business deductions sample?
This page carries a full ACC 330 Module 5 assignment building a 2024 Schedule C with self-employment tax and the QBI deduction for a freelance bookkeeper.
How is self-employment tax calculated?
Multiply net earnings from self-employment by 92.35 percent, then apply 15.3 percent up to the Social Security wage base and 2.9 percent above it. Half of the tax is deducted in computing AGI.
What was the 2024 standard mileage rate for business use?
67 cents per mile, which covers gas, maintenance, insurance and depreciation. Parking and tolls for business trips are deducted separately.
How does the simplified home office method work?
The deduction is $5 per square foot of space used regularly and exclusively for business, up to 300 square feet, with no depreciation or allocation of home expenses.
Does the specified service business rule limit the QBI deduction for an accountant?
Only when taxable income exceeds the annual threshold. Below it, owners of specified service businesses such as accounting take the full 20 percent deduction.