Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: The 2025 chart lists 311800 for bakeries and tortilla and dry pasta manufacturing, the one row that uses the word bakeries. The code goes on line B beside your line A description. Rows such as 722515 or 445290 may read closer, depending on the principal source of your receipts.
The row with the word bakeries
The chart files baking under food manufacturing rather than under restaurants or stores.
| Code | Wording on the IRS chart |
|---|---|
| 311800 | Bakeries & tortilla & dry pasta mfg. |
The full wording is “Bakeries & tortilla & dry pasta mfg.”. Tortillas and dry pasta share the row with bakeries.
Putting the baking on line A and line B
Line A asks for a description of the work: “Describe the business or professional activity that provided your principal source of income reported on line 1.” Line B asks for the code: “Enter on line B the six-digit code from the Principal Business or Professional Activity Codes chart” The code goes in the box on line B, beside the description.
An example of the kind of description, not IRS wording: baking and selling custom cakes and bread to individual customers. A line A phrase can say what is baked and who buys it, and line B takes one code.
Food service and food retail rows nearby
A baker’s receipts can read as manufacturing, as serving food, or as selling food, and the chart has rows for each.
| Code | Wording on the IRS chart |
|---|---|
| 722515 | Snack & nonalcoholic beverage bars |
| 445290 | Other specialty food retailers |
| 722300 | Special food services (including food service contractors & caterers) |
| 311900 | Other food mfg. (including coffee, tea, flavorings, & seasonings) |
| 445100 | Grocery & convenience retailers |
A counter that serves drinks and snacks would read “Snack & nonalcoholic beverage bars”. Catering is written in “Special food services (including food service contractors & caterers)”. On the retail side, “Other specialty food retailers” and “Grocery & convenience retailers” are both retailers, and other manufactured foods land in “Other food mfg. (including coffee, tea, flavorings, & seasonings)”.
The chart’s rule has two steps: “Select the category that best describes your primary business activity”, and then “Then select the activity that best identifies the principal source of your sales or receipts”.
Where the chart’s wording stops
The chart has one row that names bakeries and it sits in manufacturing. It carries no separate row for a baker who sells over a counter, so this page reads chart rows only and makes no claim beyond the wording each row uses.
Where receipts come from several kinds of activity, the sentence to read is: “Then select the activity that best identifies the principal source of your sales or receipts”. For a retailer, the instructions add: “Retailers should select the PBA associated with their primary line of products sold.” A baker with a genuinely separate business meets this instruction: “If you owned more than one business, complete a separate Schedule C for each business.”
Where to go next
The code sits on line B beside the line A description on Schedule C (Form 1040). A baker who sells through marketplaces may find the online sellers code page useful, and a home baker with handmade goods might read the crafters page. the full list of Schedule C business codes shows every row at once.
Edition and chart year
This page reads the 2025 Schedule C (Form 1040) and its 2025 instructions, the files for the tax year 2025 return, filed in 2026. The schedule says “Attach to Form 1040, 1040-SR, 1040-SS, 1040-NR, or 1041”. Check the tax year printed on the schedule you are filling in and use the chart that comes with that year’s instructions, because a different year’s chart can list different codes or reword them.
Common mistakes
- Assuming a counter-service shop uses the manufacturing row. The chart words food service as “Snack & nonalcoholic beverage bars”.
- Expecting a row for retail baking. Reading the chart rows only, the baking row is “Bakeries & tortilla & dry pasta mfg.”.
- Using several codes for one kitchen. The chart says “Then select the activity that best identifies the principal source of your sales or receipts” so one activity leads on line B.
Related: Schedule C (Form 1040), Schedule C business codes: the full IRS list, online sellers code page, and the crafters page.
Find the right next step for your situation
About how much do you have invested? Pick the range that fits; your next step appears immediately below.
Advisor help for a self-employed baking business owner
For U.S. investors with $250,000 or more in investable assets. WiserAdvisor is an independent service matching you with 2 to 3 vetted advisers. Its form asks for your ZIP code and answers to a few questions; a match is not guaranteed.
Free to request, with no obligation to hire. By submitting, you consent to calls, texts and emails from WiserAdvisor and up to three advisers. Advisers pay for introductions.
Clear Money Guide may earn a referral payment for a qualifying completed form. An introduction is not a Clear Money Guide recommendation.
Opens on WiserAdvisor’s site in a new tab.
Retirement saving options for self-employed food entrepreneurs
Considering financial advice? Request an adviser introduction with no obligation to hire.
The form is run by Kapitalwise, our advisor-matching partner. Requesting an introduction is free. Submitting the form shares your contact details with advisers, so expect calls and texts. Advisers pay for introductions. Clear Money Guide may earn a referral payment for a qualifying submitted form, whether or not you hire anyone. A match is not guaranteed.
The Kapitalwise form opens here; you stay on this page.
What happens when you press the button
It asks about nine questions: age, investable assets, location; then your name, email and phone number, and verifies the phone by text. Nothing loads and nothing reaches Kapitalwise until you press the button.
Prefer flat-fee or hourly pricing instead? Compare ranges here.
Answer againSources
- Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business (2025): IRS archived PDF (irs.gov)
- Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business (2025): IRS archived PDF (irs.gov)
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 30, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.