What expenses can I deduct as a self-employed person?

Do you work under the flat-rate regime or do you have a more structured business with a standard VAT number?

Because the answer changes quite a bit! If you're on the flat-rate regime, honestly deductions are limited - basically you can deduct INPS contributions and not much else, the rest is already "covered" by the flat tax. But if you have a standard VAT number, then yes, expenses become important and really impact your taxable income.

Under the standard regime you can deduct tons of things: office or business location rent, utilities (electricity, gas, internet), equipment and work tools, management and administration expenses, professional insurance, training courses, business travel expenses, software or subscriptions necessary for your activity. It's essential that everything is documented and directly connected to your work - receipts need to be kept, not made up! Watch out also for mileage if you use your car for work: you can deduct work kilometers using the analytical method (actual expenses) or the flat-rate method (about €0.26 per km, depends on the year).

One tip: keep track of everything during the year! It's way easier than doing the math at the end of the fiscal year trying to remember what you spent. And if you're not sure about an expense, ask your accountant - it's their job, and a preventive check costs less than corrections later.

If you have a standard VAT number, you can deduct pretty much everything you need for your business: office rent, utilities, equipment, software, training courses, professional insurance, contributions, and even part of your home expenses if you work remotely. With the flat-rate scheme it's different though and much more limited, like they said before.

A trick that not many people remember: keep receipts and invoices for things that might look personal but are actually for work. An Ikea desk, lightbulbs for your office, a subscription to online services you use for business - it all counts if you can clearly connect it to your activity.

Things became clearer for me when I had to sit down with my accountant: with the flat-rate regime you basically deduct a fixed amount (around 15% of your revenue) and you can't itemize individual expenses, whereas with a standard VAT ID every receipt for a business-related expense becomes deductible. In my specific case I'd started with the flat rate and it worked for me that way, then when I had to buy more expensive equipment I switched over and that's when everything changed - from utility bills to equipment rentals to professional training courses, pretty much anything you document properly.

The trick is really understanding which regime works best for you based on how much you earn and how much you spend, because making the right choice saves you hundreds of euros every year.