Updated October 18, 2026. Quick answer: Line 48 is the total of other business expenses that have no line of their own in Part II. You list the type and amount of each expense in Part V, add them, and carry the total to line 27b. Equipment, personal costs, charitable gifts and fines stay out.
Picking the Schedule C business code for your work (2025 chart): Schedule C code for unclassified businesses.
Picking the Schedule C business code for your work (2025 chart): Schedule C business codes.
What Part V and line 48 ask for
The Part V heading is “List below business expenses not included on lines 8” through 27a or line 30. Line 48 is captioned “Total other expenses. Enter here and on line 27b”. The instructions say “Include all ordinary and necessary business expenses not deducted elsewhere on Schedule C.” “List the type and amount of each expense separately in the space provided.” “Enter the total on lines 48 and 27b.” The rest of the schedule is on the Schedule C (Form 1040) page.
What does not belong here
The instructions say “Do not include the cost of business equipment or furniture; replacements or permanent improvements to property; or personal, living, and family expenses.” “Do not include charitable contributions.” “Also, you can’t deduct fines or penalties paid to a government for violating any law.” For details they point to “For details on business expenses, see Pub. 334, chapter 8.”
On the capitalization side: “Generally, you must capitalize costs to acquire or produce real or tangible personal property used in your trade or business, such as buildings, equipment, or furniture.” Depreciation of those items goes through line 13 and Form 4562, covered at Schedule C lines 12 and 13.
Expenses the instructions name
Amortization: “Include amortization in this part.” “For amortization that begins in 2025, complete and attach Form 4562.” Costs the instructions say you can amortize include “Amounts paid to acquire, protect, expand, register, or defend trademarks or trade names” and “Goodwill and certain other intangibles.”
Startup costs: “If your business began in 2025, you can elect to deduct up to $5,000 of certain business startup costs. The $5,000 limit is reduced (but not below zero) by the amount by which your total startup costs exceed $50,000.”
Accessibility: you “may be able to deduct up to $15,000 of costs paid or incurred in 2025 to remove architectural or transportation barriers to individuals with disabilities and the elderly.” “However, you can’t take both a credit (on Form 8826) and a deduction for the same expenditures.”
Technology: you “can deduct technology and software tools that are ordinary and necessary expenses directly related to operating your business.” “Generally, this will include tax preparation software and subscription services paid to manage your business.” “However, you can’t deduct technology or software tools that must be depreciated or amortized.”
Small purchases: the de minimis safe harbor
The instructions allow an election for small items: “If you have an applicable financial statement, you may use this safe harbor to deduct amounts paid for tangible property up to $5,000 per item or invoice. If you don’t have an applicable financial statement, you may use the de minimis safe harbor to deduct amounts paid for tangible property up to $2,500 per item or invoice.” “Only deduct these amounts as other expenses. Don’t include these amounts on any other line.” They add “For details on making this election and requirements for using the de minimis safe harbor for tangible property, see chapter 8 of Pub. 334.”
Carryover of a prior loss
The instructions say “Any loss from this business that was not allowed last year because of the” at-risk rules “is treated as a deduction allocable to this business in 2025.” The at-risk rules themselves are explained at Schedule C lines 31 and 32.
Where it goes next
The Part V total is copied to line 27b, captioned “Other expenses (from line 48)”. Line 28 then “Add lines 8 through 27b”. Lines 27b to 29 are covered at Schedule C lines 27a to 29, and the net profit or loss at Schedule C lines 31 and 32. The return the schedule attaches to is on the Form 1040 page.
Edition and line numbers
This page reads the 2025 Schedule C (Form 1040) and its 2025 instructions, the current files irs.gov served on 2026-10-18. They are byte-identical to the archived copies and 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”; “partnerships must generally file Form 1065.” Schedule C has its own instructions booklet, titled “Instructions for Schedule C” (Form 1040). Check the tax year printed on the schedule you are filling in and use the line numbers on that year’s schedule, because a different year’s schedule can number or word its lines differently.
Common mistakes
- Listing equipment or furniture as an other expense. The instructions say “Do not include the cost of business equipment or furniture; replacements or permanent improvements to property; or personal, living, and family expenses.”
- Deducting a fine. The instructions say “Also, you can’t deduct fines or penalties paid to a government for violating any law.”
- Giving one lump sum with no detail. The instructions say “List the type and amount of each expense separately in the space provided.”
Related: Schedule C (Form 1040), Form 4562, and Form 1040.
Sources
- 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 18, 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.