Top 3 FREE Excel Independent Contractor Excel Spreadsheet Template

Excel is the top spreadsheet application for accounting people. Its easy-to-use interface and hundreds of functions allow them to manage business expenses like a pro for tax purposes. Reporting and data analytics capabilities are also worth mentioning here.

Accounting is a challenging task for most beginners.

When it comes to self-employed individuals, things get even worse.

You are not alone if you are searching for a 1099 Excel template that allows reporting payments to independent contractors, rental property income, and many other types of income. It is a crucial tool to boost profits and reduce tax liabilities.

This is a quick guide where we will discuss the top 3 FREE independent contractor Excel spreadsheet templates. It also includes a step-by-step guide to creating a template from scratch, so make sure to read the article till the end.

What is an Independent Contractor Expenses spreadsheet?

It is a tool to help independent contractors track finances.

Such spreadsheet templates include a table where users can record the costs associated with running their business. They can easily categorize expenses and calculate taxes as an Independent Contractor.

For every self-employed person, it is essential to manage finances and file taxes as per the law. So, they need a professional tool to get the job done.

Spreadsheet templates created using Excel often include columns to track and organize the total amount spent on each category. It leads to making informed decisions to save money and minimize tax liability over time.

3 Best Independent Contractor Excel Spreadsheet Template

There are many Independent Contractor Expenses Spreadsheet templates available on the internet. But we have picked the top three templates for you to make your task of managing the expenses easier and more efficient.

Let’s discuss them in detail.

1. Self-employed Expenses Spreadsheet by SoftwareAccountant

Best FREE Independent Contractor Excel Spreadsheet Template

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Get this Independent Contractor Expenses template by SoftwareAccoutant for free. It allows you to track expenses over a month or year easily.

The template is perfect for both beginners and expert independent contractors. The main goal behind this template is to provide users with an easy-to-use tool to categorize their expenses and prepare a summary to have a bird’s eye view of the total amount spent.

The template is divided into two spreadsheets:

Report: This first sheet gives you a summary of the expenses over time. It uses various formulas to calculate the expenses using the entries in the column named “Schedule C category.” At the top, you can name your spreadsheet, and beside that, you can find the Total Tax Deduction, which is calculated automatically. Note that most of the data in this particular worksheet is predefined or computed using the built-in formulas. You only need to enter the data in the “Business use %” column.
Expenses: As the name suggests, you are supposed to enter all your expenses in this spreadsheet. You can add details like Date, Merchant name, Expense type, Schedule C category, and the amount. It uses a dropdown for selecting the type of expense in the Schedule C category. If you wish to add more elements to the dropdown, navigate to “Data > Data Validation,” as shown below.

This template is a one-stop solution for all the independent contractors out there. Various formulas and dropdowns used in this template are meant to save you time.

But note that you should avoid editing the cells that hold a formula, or the template will stop functioning as described above.

2. Independent Contractor Expenses Summary by SpreadsheetPoint

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Use this free template for precisely tracking expenses and filing taxes. It allows users to categorize expenses according to the Schedule C categories that are predefined in the template.

There are two sheets in the template, as discussed below:

Summary: This sheet gives you an overview of all your expenses in a table view as per the Schedule C categories. The spreadsheet is fully automated, and you don’t need to enter any information except the values in the “% Business Use” column. Note that it automatically calculates the Tax deductions using built-in formulas.
Expenses: In this spreadsheet, you will record all of your expenses over time with details such as Merchant Name, Schedule C Category, Date, Expense Type, Actual Expense Amount, etc. It is pretty straightforward. You need to start by selecting the date followed by the Schedule C Category and then the details of the expense.

It is available for free and focuses on helping users with filing Form 1099. Additionally, the template includes tax filing Form 1040 (Schedule C), which reports your profit and loss.

One can easily customizable and accurately track their annual expenses using this template.

3. Independent Contractor Expenses Spreadsheet by Keeper Tax

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It is the last template on this list. The Keeper Tax’s 1099 Excel Template is designed for independent contractors to make tax filing less painful.

Here are the three main spreadsheets of this template,

Schedule C Expense Categories: You can have a quick look at all the expenses that are categorized as per Schedule C (Form 1040). You are not supposed to edit any of the columns of this spreadsheet except the values in the “Business Use Percentage” column. It uses formulas to calculate Tax deductions.
All Business Expenses: This is the data source for the first sheet discussed above. Here, you can note down all the transactions made over time. It allows you to enter the Merchant Details along with the expense category and actual spend.
Other Expenses – Grouped: Here, you can record all the expenses that don’t fall into Schedule C categories. It is for your own record only. The sheet contains expenses grouped into the categories defined by users.

It is a comprehensive expense tracker spreadsheet designed to record financials associated with your work. Anyone from independent contractors to freelancers and small business owners can leverage this template for expense management.

How to create an Independent Contractor Expenses Template using Excel

If you are not satisfied with the above-discussed templates, then you can create one on your own from scratch.

Excel is an easy-to-use program with hundreds of features and functions to analyze and organize complex datasets in tabular form.

Let us discuss the steps to creating an Independent Contractor Expenses Excel template.

STEP #1 – Create A Template Header

A Header is a crucial part of any template. It allows you to make the template more personal by entering the desired name at the top of the template.

Let’s begin,

Open a new Excel workbook
Select the entire first row
Increase the height of the row as shown in the following image
Select all the cells from A1 to E1
Merge the selected cells by clicking on “Home > Merge & Center”
Type “John Doe“
(Make sure to replace the name “John Doe” with your desired name)
Press “Enter” on your keyboard
Now, again select the merged cell
Increase the font size to 18
Change the font alignment to the middle
Change the font type to “Poppins“
Next, change the cell background color to green (HEX Code – #00ac46)
Change the font color to white

Here’s how our header looks,

Now, we will rename the sheet as “Report” by double-clicking on the sheet name, as shown in the GIF below.

This spreadsheet is our summary of expenses. Most of the data will be pulled automatically using various formulas.

STEP #2 – Create Expenses Table

In this step, we will create a table to record all our expenses.

Let’s use a different spreadsheet for simplicity and avoid confusion in the future.

Go to the lower-leftmost corner of the screen and click on the “+” icon, as shown in the following image.

Next, double-click on the name “Sheet2” and rename it as “Expenses.”

All of the records from this new spreadsheet will be used in the Report spreadsheet created in Step 1.

Here are the steps to create an expenses table,

Select the cell “A1”
Type “Date” and press the “Enter” key
Now, select the cell “B1” and type “Merchant Name“
Repeat the above steps and complete the table as shown below
Now, choose all the columns from A to E
Increase the width of the columns
Select all the cells from A1 to E1
Change the cell background color to green (HEX Code – #00ac46)
Change the font color to white
Adjust the font alignment to the middle
Change the font type to “Poppins“
Next, let us select A2 to E20, as shown below
To apply borders, click on the Borders dropdown in the “Home” tab in the “Font” group
Click on “All Borders”
To change the border color, click on the “More Borders”
This will open a Format Cells dialog box, in which go to the “Border” section
Under the “Color” section, click on the dropdown to select the border color to light gray
Click on “OK” to apply the changes

Now, let’s change the format of the “Amount” column and ensure that whenever we edit any cell, it will be reflected with the proper currency (“$” symbol).

Select all the cells of the Amount column (from D2 to D20)
Hover to the main menu and click on the “Home” tab
In the “Number” group, click on the dropdown saying “General”
Now, select “Currency”

When you enter any amount within the cells between D2 and D20, it will be displayed with a dollar symbol, as shown below.

For the Schedule C Category, let us create a dropdown with predefined values.

Here is a complete list of categories from the Form 1040 (Schedule C).

Advertising
Car and truck expenses
Commissions and fees
Contract labor
Depletion
Depreciation and Section 179 expense deduction
Employee benefit programs
Insurance
Interest: Mortgage
Interest: Other
Legal and professional services
Office expense
Pension and profit-sharing plans
Rent or lease: Vehicles, machinery, etc.
Rent or lease: Other business property
Repairs and maintenance
Supplies
Taxes and licenses
Travel
Deductible meals
Utilities
Wages
Business use of your home
Other expenses

We will use all these categories in our template.

Let’s begin,

Select all the cells of column E from E2 to E20
Go to the “Data” tab
Click on “Data Validation” in the “Data Tools” group
A new dialog box will appear
In the “Settings” tab, click on “Allow” dropdown as shown below
Select the “List” option
Enter all the predefined values separated by a comma in the “Source” field
Click the “OK” button

Now, you will observe a dropdown icon across all the cells of column E (Schedule C Category). Refer to the following image.

If you click on the dropdown icon, a list will be displayed.

That’s it. Our expenses table is ready. With sample data in the first row, it looks like below.

STEP #3 – Create Summary Table

In this step, we will create a summary table in the “Report” sheet, as our expense summary will be displayed there.

Let’s begin,

Click on the cell “A3”
Type “Schedule C Category“
Next, select the cell “B3” and type “Line“
Repeat the above steps and complete the table as shown below
Select all the columns from A to E and adjust the width such that all the column headings are clearly visible
Select all the cells from A3 to E3
Change the cell background color to green (HEX Code – #00ac46)
Change the font color to white
Change the font alignment to the middle
Change the font type to “Poppins“
Now, we need to enter the Schedule C categories in the first column
Select the cell A4 and type “Advertising“
Next, select the cell A5 and type “Car and truck expenses“
Repeat the above two steps and complete the table as shown below
(You will find a complete list of Schedule C categories in Step 2 above)
Enter the Line number in the same way. It is nothing but the line number on Form 1040 for your reference while filing the tax
Select the cell B4 and type “8“
Next, select the cell B5 and type “9“
Repeat the above steps and complete the table as shown below

Next, for the Total Amount column, we will use the SUMIF function in Excel.

=SUMIF(Expenses!E2:E20,A4,Expenses!D2:D20)

Here are the steps,

Select all the cells from the column C (Total Amount)
Hover to the main menu and click on the “Home” tab
Select “General” dropdown in the “Number” group
Choose “Currency” from the available options
Next, select the cell “C4”
Put the formula “=SUMIF(Expenses!E2:E20,A4,Expenses!D2:D20)”
(Make sure to copy and paste the formula as it is)
Press the “Enter” key
Now, to copy the formula to the remaining cells, select cell C4, hover to the lower-rightmost corner over the Fill Handle, and drag it to the end of the table

In this table, the “Business use %“ column should be a Percentage field. So for that,

Select the cells of the column D
Go to the “Home” tab in the main menu
Select the “General” dropdown in the “Number” section
Choose “Percentage” from the list

Next, for tax deductions, we will use the following formula,

=IF(ISBLANK(D4),C4,(C4*D4))

Let’s begin,

Select the cell “E4”
Type “=IF(ISBLANK(D4),C4,(C4*D4))”
(You can simply copy and paste the above formula)
Now, hover to the lower rightmost corner over the Fill Handle of the cell E4
You will see a “+” icon
Click on it and drag till the end of the table

Our summary table is ready,