When filing taxes for form 1099-MISC, how should I write expenses?

[thefranking]

For example, when reporting that part that says, "Enter your meals and entertainment (50%) expenses"

should I list out every meal in a separate line like "$40 - restaurant A | $20 - restaurant B" or should I just add them all up and write "business meetings - $180 | client meetings - $100"? 

Sorry I realize my question may not be very clear, please let me know if I need to clarify.

[MichaelDC · Accepted solution]

No. Add the totals of all expenses for each category and enter one amount per category.

Just enter the total.

Your tax return only shows it as one number. You are welcome to itemize and detail these things in TurboTax, but that detail will not be reported to the IRS.

You should obviously have backup for each expense (receipt, business purpose, who with) but it makes little sense to go through that extra work in TurboTax.

Please feel free to post any additional details or questions in the comment section.

[thefranking]

Thank you! I thought it seemed too tedious to put everything little by little!

[MichaelDC]

More than a pleasure. Good Luck! and Keep it Simple! 🙂