Updated October 23, 2026. Quick answer: The 2025 IRS chart lists 541920 for photographic services. That six-digit code goes on line B, beside the line A description of your work. A neighboring row, such as 812920 for photofinishing or 711510 for independent artists, may read closer depending on the principal source of your receipts.
The code the chart lists for photography
The 2025 chart has a row for this work worded “Photographic services”. The row reads:
| Code | Wording on the IRS chart |
|---|---|
| 541920 | Photographic services |
The chart has no row that names photographers as such; the word it uses is the service. Anyone who takes pictures for pay will find the closest wording at 541920, and the chart sorts it with the other professional, scientific, and technical services.
How Schedule C asks for it
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: a line A entry might name the field and the service in plain terms, such as portrait and event photography for clients. The words on line A describe the work; the six digits on line B come from the chart.
Neighboring rows that read differently
Four other rows sit near photography on the chart, and each is worded around a different main activity.
| Code | Wording on the IRS chart |
|---|---|
| 541920 | Photographic services |
| 812920 | Photofinishing |
| 711510 | Independent artists, writers, & performers |
| 541400 | Specialized design services (including interior, industrial, graphic, & fashion design) |
| 541800 | Advertising, public relations, & related services |
Row 812920 is worded “Photofinishing”, which is a developing and printing service rather than picture taking. Row 711510 is worded “Independent artists, writers, & performers”, so it is built around creative work as an artist, writer, or performer. Row 541400 covers “Specialized design services (including interior, industrial, graphic, & fashion design)”, and row 541800 covers “Advertising, public relations, & related services”. Whether any of those matches your work better turns on where most of your receipts come from.
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”.
When income comes from more than one kind of work
Photographers often earn from several streams: sessions, prints, licensing a picture, or design work for a client. The chart’s step asks for the activity that provides the principal source of receipts, so the stream that brings in the most is the one the chart’s wording is measured against. The instructions put the rule for a second line of work plainly: “If you owned more than one business, complete a separate Schedule C for each business.” Two streams that you run as two separate businesses are therefore a different question from two streams inside one business.
Where the code goes next
The code sits on line B, right below the line A description. Everything else on the schedule follows from it, and the overview in the Schedule C guide shows where line B sits on the form. If you are still working out what counts as receipts for the first part of the form, the page on Schedule C line 1 gross receipts or sales is the next stop. Photographers who also want the list of every code can use the full list of Schedule C business codes.
Edition and chart year
This page reads the 2025 Schedule C (Form 1040) and its 2025 instructions, the current files irs.gov served on 2026-10-23 (byte-identical to the archived copies). They are 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
- Treating line A and line B as the same entry: the form’s captions are “Principal business or profession, including product or service (see instructions)” for line A and “Enter code from instructions” for line B.
- Copying a code from a row that reads like a different activity, such as 812920, “Photofinishing”, when the work you do is picture taking.
- Forgetting that the chart asks for “Then select the activity that best identifies the principal source of your sales or receipts”, so a minor stream of receipts does not set the code.
Related: Schedule C (Form 1040), Schedule C line 1 gross receipts or sales, Form 1099-NEC box 1 nonemployee compensation, and Schedule C business codes: the full IRS list.
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Answer againSources
- Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business (2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sc.pdf
- Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business (2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 23, 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.