I am an independent contractor and I work out of a home office. I use public transportation and rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft to go to clients, as I do not own a car. Can I write off a bus pass ($100/month) and my work-related rideshare trip costs on my taxes, and how?
Yes, you can deduct these expenses under your travel costs, which you'll see listed under the self-employed expenses. Since you have a home office, any taxi ride from there to any location for a business purpose, qualifies as a business deduction. It could be to buy supplies or meet a client, as long as the purpose was for business.
As far as your bus pass, you'd need to allocate the business portion of the cost based on a systematic way, such as the number of business trips to total trips per month.
in the business travel section it says do not include local transportation (buses, taxis) here.. where would these expenses be entered?