# Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018

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Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
by Adrian Dungan

F

or Tax Year 2018, there were approximately 27.1 million
individual income tax returns that reported nonfarm sole
proprietorship activity, a 2.6-percent increase from Tax
Year 2017. Total receipts reported by nonfarm sole proprietorships increased 3.8 percent, while deductions increased 4.7 percent, and profits rose 0.7 percent to $348.5 billion in 2018. In
constant dollars, total receipts rose by 1.4 percent, deductions
rose by 2.3 percent, and profits decreased by 1.6 percent. Total
profits as a percentage of business receipts were 21.9 percent
for the year, down from 22.6 percent for the prior year. The
professional, scientific, and technical services sector remained
the sector with the largest share of profits at 24.4 percent, with
profits increasing by 2.6 percent to $85 billion. Most sectors saw
increases in profits, with the largest percentage increase in the
arts, entertainment and recreation sector, which increased 11.1
percent to $12.8 billion.
The construction sector reported the largest percentage of
total business receipts (17 percent) and total business deductions (18.2 percent). The transportation and warehousing sector
reported the largest percentage increase in business receipts

(18.2 percent) and also reported the largest dollar increase in
business receipts, jumping $21.6 billion.

Returns and Receipts

Between Tax Years 2017 and 2018, the number of individual
income tax returns reporting nonfarm sole proprietorship activity increased 2.6 percent to 27.1 million (Figure A).1 The transportation and warehousing sector had the largest percentage
increase in the number of returns among all sectors, increasing
10 percent for Tax Year 2018 after increasing by 18.6 percent
in Tax Year 2017. Growth in ride-sharing businesses contributed to these large increases. The subsector of the transportation and warehousing sector specific to “Taxis, limousines, and
other ride-sharing services” accounted for 27.8 percent of the
total increase in the number of business returns in the sector
for Tax Year 2018. This subsector also made up much of the
total increase in the number of business returns for Tax Years
2015 (69.1 percent) and 2016 (79.9 percent) and 2017 (51.6
percent). Between Tax Years 2013 and 2018, the average business receipts per return in this subsector fell from $36,420 to

Figure A
Nonfarm Sole Proprietorship Returns, Receipts, and Deductions, by Selected Industrial Sector, Tax Years 2017 and 2018
[Number of returns is in thousands—money amounts are in billions of dollars]
Selected industrial sector

2017
(1)

Number of returns
Percentage
2018
change
(2)
(3)

Total business receipts
Percentage
2017
2018
change
(4)
(5)
(6)

Total business deductions [1]
Percentage
2017
2018
change
(7)
(8)
(9)

All nonfarm industries

26,426.4

27,117.2

2.6

1,531.3

1,589.7

3.8

1,186.5

1,242.4

4.7

Construction
Wholesale trade (merchant wholesalers)
Retail trade
Transportation and warehousing
Finance and insurance
Real estate and rental and leasing
Professional, scientific, and technical services
Administrative and support and waste management
services
Health care and social assistance
Arts, entertainment, and recreation
Other services
All other sectors

2,832.3
333.5
2,434.0
2,354.3
660.2
1,351.7
3,536.3

2,901.7
349.7
2,401.8
2,589.2
673.6
1,362.2
3,650.3

2.4
4.9
-1.3
10.0
2.0
0.8
3.2

265.5
50.0
180.8
118.6
83.8
93.4
200.5

269.9
53.3
187.6
140.2
90.0
93.0
203.6

1.6
6.6
3.7
18.2
7.4
-0.5
1.6

221.7
45.1
170.5
102.0
61.0
60.5
117.9

225.6
48.9
176.7
122.4
66.2
62.1
118.8

1.8
8.5
3.6
20.0
8.5
2.6
0.7

2,601.8

2,626.4

0.9

84.4

83.4

-1.3

60.2

60.0

-0.2

2,131.2
1,696.1
3,429.9
3,065.2

2,071.6
1,723.8
3,623.4
3,143.6

-2.8
1.6
5.6
2.6

122.5
49.4
113.1
169.3

120.1
51.8
122.9
174.1

-2.0
4.9
8.7
2.8

75.4
37.9
83.5
150.9

74.3
39.1
92.2
156.1

-1.4
3.1
10.4
3.5

[1] Total business deductions are calculated before subtraction of nonallowable "passive" activity losses and inclusion of any "passive loss" carryover from prior years.
NOTES: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. Percentages were calculated before rounding.
SOURCE: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Sole Proprietorship Returns, November 2020.

For Tax Year 2018, the 27,117,163 nonfarm sole proprietorship returns accounted for an estimated 30,790,001 nonfarm businesses. For purposes of these statistics, if a proprietor owned more
than one business, the statistics for each business were combined with those of the proprietor’s dominant business and included in the industrial group for that business activity. When this
occurred, the sum of net incomes (for businesses reporting a positive net income) reduced by the sum of net deficits (for businesses reporting a deficit) yielded the profits for a specific industrial
group.
The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) was used to classify data by industries. The Statistics of Income Division applied these classifications on a “per business” (rather
than on a “per establishment”) basis by combining various industry groups, although businesses were further combined as described above. While the wording of the industry titles used for the
sole proprietorship statistics diverge somewhat from those appearing in NAICS, the definitions are consistent.
NAICS for industrial coding was introduced in Tax Year 1998. Prior to 1998, industries were classified using the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC). Due to coding changes, comparisons
between data by industry from 1998–2018 with 1997 and prior years may show inconsistencies. A reason for this is that several types of sole proprietorships under NAICS were classified in
completely different industrial groups, which makes prior-year comparisons under the SIC system inappropriate. For example, in 1997, finance, insurance, and real estate were classified as one
industry under the SIC system, while under the NAICS system, the group is split into two industrial sectors. The industrial sectors based on the NAICS codes are reported in Tables 1 and 2.
1

Statistics of Income
Statistics of Income Bulletin | Spring 2021

www.irs.gov/statistics

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Figure B
Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Income Statements, for Taxis and Limousines, Including Ride-Sharing Services, Tax Years 2014–2018
[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]
Net income status, item

Taxis and Limousines, including ride-sharing services
2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

Number of returns [1]
Business receipts, total [1,2]
Income from sales and operations [1]
Other business income (loss) [1]

230,481
8,394,177
8,238,769
155,408

331,281
10,874,894
10,658,172
216,722

555,046
12,808,899
12,680,939
127,959

847,065
16,667,209
16,445,007
222,202

1,037,701
21,538,304
21,283,180
255,124

1,103,024
26,481,055
26,077,063
403,992

Business deductions, total [1,2]
Cost of sales and operations
Advertising expenses
Car and truck expenses
Commissions
Contract labor
Depreciation
Insurance
Legal and professional services
Meals and entertainment deducted
Other interest paid on business indebtedness
Office expenses
Rent paid on machinery and equipment
Rent paid on other business property
Repairs
Supplies
Salaries and wages
Taxes paid
Travel
Utilities
Other business expenses

6,026,516
85,707
58,833
1,446,115
179,673
193,757
252,269
303,001
36,102
68,614
49,441
21,934
1,244,278
149,334
209,576
41,890
115,582
89,953
53,945
145,183
1,206,370

8,405,469
220,143
46,425
2,154,758
230,200
278,918
362,876
403,056
45,489
85,709
13,270
29,264
1,676,672
120,421
289,536
125,806
103,728
139,797
73,095
199,119
1,669,365

10,153,715
200,268
60,397
2,725,539
487,736
199,810
488,304
382,624
60,581
89,987
34,864
57,056
1,613,450
234,897
359,142
99,870
109,566
122,103
74,806
320,180
2,206,131

13,459,248
168,933
69,043
4,480,628
794,283
179,858
459,246
487,139
77,012
224,901
30,653
75,168
1,622,525
227,218
375,638
199,312
219,346
211,215
105,037
429,427
2,728,782

17,853,556
203,540
90,730
6,469,898
1,222,840
489,904
678,466
520,928
135,018
273,547
39,506
97,634
1,484,949
242,263
528,036
245,197
129,258
222,812
206,122
581,156
3,685,076

22,749,710
137,168
114,344
8,946,327
1,661,332
277,689
649,395
551,804
189,579
295,317
62,813
130,595
1,407,164
263,762
640,663
387,074
115,582
263,331
291,242
749,740
5,292,885

Net income less deficit [1,2]
Net income [1,2]
Deficit [2]

2,367,665
2,629,448
261,783

2,470,162
2,940,526
470,364

2,656,632
3,457,190
800,558

3,223,125
4,382,503
1,159,378

3,694,665
5,485,379
1,790,714

3,760,332
6,176,837
2,416,505

Returns with Schedule C-EZ:
Number of returns
Business receipts
Business deductions
Net income

23,418
223,733
39,465
184,268

36,026
197,099
39,656
157,444

126,124
502,216
164,642
337,574

193,612
595,387
198,272
397,116

169,286
731,185
224,661
506,525

107,768
522,547
160,568
361,979

BUSINESSES WITH AND WITHOUT
NET INCOME

[1] Includes returns with Schedule C-EZ attached. Schedule C-EZ was filed for certain small businesses, i.e., those with net incomes, business expenses of $5,000 or less, used the cash accounting method,
with no inventories or employees, and with no deduction for a home office business and no allowable "passive" activity losses. Because only a total is reported for business deductions on Schedule C-EZ, the
totals shown in the statistics exceed the sum of the detailed deductions; the detailed deductions are, therefore, slightly understated.
[2] Total business deductions are before subtraction of nonallowable "passive" activity losses and any "passive loss" carryover from the prior years. However, these losses (after subtraction) and any carrryover
are reflected in net income or deficit. Therefore, total business receipts minus total business deductions may not always equal net income or deficit.
[3] Total business deductions will not be equal to the total as items with an estimate based on a small number of sample returns have been removed.
NOTE: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Sole Proprietorship Returns 2018, November 2020.

$24,008. This large drop was driven by substantial increases in
the number of returns for this subsector coupled with smaller
gains in total business receipts over this same period (Figure B).
However, average business receipts for 2018 were up from the
2017 level of $20,756. For the transportation and warehousing
sector more broadly, 87.9 percent of the returns had business
receipts of $100,000 or less; these returns accounted for 49.8
percent of total profits (Figure B1). Similarly, both the administrative and support and waste management services and the
construction sector had a relatively large percentage of profits accounted for by returns with business receipts of less than
Statistics of Income Bulletin

$100,000. In the administrative and support and waste management services sector, 95 percent of returns had business receipts
less than $100,000; these returns accounted for 62.3 percent of
the sectors’ total profits. The construction sector had 82.5 percent of such returns, accounting for 46.4 percent of its total profits. The finance and insurance sector and the wholesale trade
and retail trade sectors had much lower percentages of profits
accounted for by returns with business receipts of $100,000 or
less. The professional, scientific, and technical services sector
had the largest number of returns with business receipts less
than $100,000, increasing 3.5 percent to 3.2 million returns.
4

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Figure B1
Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Percentage of Industry’s Total Returns and Total Net Income for Returns with Business Receipts
Equal To or Less Than $100,000, by Selected Industry, Tax Year 2018
36.8%

All nonfarm industries

89.7%
62.3%

Administrative and support and waste management services

95.0%

49.8%

Transportation and warehousing

87.9%

46.4%

Construction

82.5%

36.3%

Arts, entertainment, and recreation

96.1%

33.8%

Health care and social assistance

90.2%

28.5%

Professional, scientific, and technical services

88.4%

27.0%

Real estate and rental and leasing
Finance and insurance

15.2%

Wholesale trade (merchant wholesalers)

14.9%

85.0%
78.9%
84.2%

3.5%

Retail trade
0%

10%

89.0%
20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Net income less deficit (profits)

70%

80%

90%

100%

Number of returns

SOURCE: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Sole Proprietorship Returns, November 2020

Overall, returns with business receipts of $100,000 or less comprised 89.7 percent of all sole proprietor returns but earned just
36.8 percent of the profits.
For all nonfarm sole proprietorship industries, total business
receipts (the sum of “income from sales and operations” and
“other business income”) increased 3.8 percent, from $1,531.3
billion to $1,589.7 billion (Figure A).2 The transportation and
warehousing sector showed the largest percentage increase in
business receipts, increasing 18.2 percent to $140.2 billion
for Tax Year 2018. The finance and insurance business sector

experienced the second largest percentage increase in business
receipts, jumping by 7.4 percent to $90 billion. In constant
dollar terms, total business receipts for nonfarm sole proprietorships increased 1.4 percent to $1,441.3 billion for the year
(Figure C).3

Deductions

Total business deductions (“cost of sales and operations” plus
business expenses, including expenses for home offices) in current dollars increased 4.7 percent, from $1,186.5 billion in Tax

Statistics for “business receipts, total” in Table 2 represent the total receipts of the business, mainly gross receipts from sales and operations. Business receipts also include miscellaneous
business receipts, such as incidental sales of scrap, shown separately as “other business income.” However, business receipts exclude incidental investment income received through the business. Examples of such incidental investment income are interest, dividends, income or loss from rents or royalties, and capital or ordinary gain or loss from the sale of investment and business
property. Sole proprietors report incidental investment income, in combination with nonbusiness related investment income, as part of their total income on their individual income tax returns.
3
Based on the overall implicit price deflator for Gross Domestic Product (GDP). See U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Survey of Current Business. Indices used
for this article were:
2

Year

Indices

Year

Indices

Year

Indices

1988

59.059

2000

78.078

2012

100

1989

61.374

2001

79.79

2013

101.755

1990

63.671

2002

81.052

2014

103.638

1991

65.825

2003

82.557

2015

104.717

1992

67.325

2004

84.78

2016

105.801

1993

68.92

2005

87.421

2017

107.794

1994

70.392

2006

90.066

2018

110.292

1995

71.868

2007

92.486

1996

73.183

2008

94.285

1997

74.445

2009

95.004

1998

75.283

2010

96.111

1999

76.37

2011

98.118

Statistics of Income Bulletin

5

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Figure C
Nonfarm Sole Proprietorship Receipts, Deductions, and Profits, Tax Years 1988–2018
[Money amounts are in billions of dollars]
Tax year

1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018

Total business receipts
Constant dollars [2]
Current dollars
Percentage
Amount
change
(1)
(2)
(3)
672.0
1,137.8
[3]
692.8
1,128.8
-0.8
730.6
1,147.5
1.7
712.6
1,082.6
-5.7
737.1
1,094.8
1.1
757.2
1,098.7
0.4
790.6
1,123.2
2.2
807.4
1,123.4
[4]
843.2
1,152.2
2.6
870.4
1,169.2
1.5
918.3
1,219.8
4.3
969.3
1,269.3
4.1
1,021.0
1,307.6
3.0
1,016.8
1,274.4
-2.5
1,029.7
1,270.4
-0.3
1,050.2
1,272.1
0.1
1,139.5
1,344.1
5.7
1,222.9
1,398.8
4.1
1,278.4
1,419.4
1.5
1,324.4
1,432.0
0.9
1,317.4
1,397.3
-2.4
1,178.4
1,240.4
-11.2
1,195.5
1,243.9
0.3
1,265.9
1,290.2
3.7
1,301.6
1,301.6
0.9
1,341.6
1,318.4
1.3
1,393.9
1,345.0
2.0
1,443.6
1,379.8
2.6
1,422.2
1,345.2
-2.5
1,531.3
1,421.7
5.7
1,589.7
1,441.3
1.4

Total business deductions [1]
Constant dollars [2]
Current dollars
Percentage
Amount
change
(4)
(5)
(6)
545.7
924.0
[3]
560.2
912.8
-1.2
589.2
925.4
1.4
571.2
867.8
-6.2
583.1
866.1
-0.2
600.8
871.7
0.6
623.8
886.2
1.7
638.1
887.9
0.2
666.5
910.7
2.6
683.9
918.6
0.9
716.2
951.3
3.6
761.4
997.0
4.8
806.4
1,032.8
3.6
799.6
1,002.2
-3.0
808.9
998.0
-0.4
820.2
993.5
-0.5
892.4
1,052.6
5.9
953.4
1,090.6
3.6
1,001.1
1,111.5
1.9
1,044.3
1,129.2
1.6
1,053.7
1,117.6
-1.0
934.5
983.7
-12.0
929.0
966.6
-1.7
984.2
1,003.1
3.8
997.6
997.6
-0.6
1,040.4
1,022.4
2.5
1,078.5
1,040.6
1.8
1,112.8
1,063.6
2.2
1,094.9
1,035.6
-2.6
1,186.5
1,101.6
6.4
1,242.4
1,126.4
2.3

Net income less deficit (profits)
Constant dollars [2]
Current dollars
Percentage
Amount
change
(7)
(8)
(9)
126.3
213.9
[3]
132.7
216.2
1.1
141.4
222.1
2.7
141.5
215.0
-3.2
154.0
228.7
6.4
156.5
227.0
-0.8
166.8
237.0
4.4
169.3
235.5
-0.6
176.8
241.5
2.6
186.6
250.7
3.8
202.3
268.7
7.2
207.9
272.3
1.3
214.7
275.0
1.0
217.4
272.4
-0.9
221.1
272.8
0.1
230.3
279.0
2.3
247.6
292.0
4.7
269.9
308.8
5.7
278.0
308.7
-0.0
280.6
303.4
-1.7
264.5
280.5
-7.5
244.8
257.7
-8.1
267.7
278.5
8.1
282.6
288.1
3.4
304.9
304.9
5.8
302.3
297.1
-2.6
317.1
305.9
3.0
331.8
317.2
3.7
328.2
310.4
-2.1
346.2
321.5
3.5
348.5
316.0
-1.7

[1] Total business deductions are calculated before subtraction of nonallowable "passive" activity losses and any "passive loss" carryover from prior years. However, these losses (after subtraction) and any
carryover are reflected in net income less deficit. Therefore, total business receipts minus total business deductions may not always equal net income less deficit.
[2] Current dollars are the value of a dollar at the time it was measured. Constant dollars are based on the overall implicit price deflator for gross domestic product computed and reported by the U.S. Department
of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, in the Survey of Current Business. The deflator represents the annual average of current-weighted prices, based on 2012 = 100.
[3] Not calculated.
[4] Less than 0.05 percent.
NOTE: Percentages were calculated before rounding.
SOURCE: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Sole Proprietorship Returns, November 2020.

Year 2017 to $1,242.4 billion in Tax Year 2018 (Figure A).4, 5 In
constant dollars, total business deductions increased 2.3 percent
in 2018 (Figure C).
Deductions for the construction sector, the largest sector in
terms of total business deductions, increased 1.8 percent, from
$221.7 billion in 2017 to $225.6 billion in 2018. The transportation and warehousing sector had the largest percentage increase of
total business deductions, increasing 20 percent to $122.4 billion.

The cost of sales and operations, which represented 35.6 percent of total Tax Year 2018 business deductions ($441.7 billion), increased 2.1 percent from Tax Year 2017 (Table 2). Total
business “expenses” (total business deductions minus the cost
of sales and operations) were $800.7 billion for 2018, a 6.2-percent increase from the previous tax year. The main components
of total business expenses are highlighted in Figure D. The two
largest components were car and truck expenses, accounting for

Sole proprietors report personal, i.e., nonbusiness income and expense items apart from business income or loss, which is reported on Profit or Loss From Business (Schedule C) (or, to a lesser
extent, on Net Profit From Business) (Schedule C-EZ). Salaries paid to owners are neither deducted as wages paid on Schedule C nor included as wages received on U.S. Individual Income Tax
Return (Form 1040). Similarly, sole proprietors deduct charitable contributions made through the business as personal expenses on Itemized Deductions (Schedule A). However, the owner of a
sole proprietorship may choose to deduct any foreign taxes paid as a business expense, unless the owner elects to claim these taxes as a credit against U.S. income tax.
5
Business deductions include the home office business deductions. After 1990, home office expenses were calculated separately on Expenses for Business Use of Your Home (Form 8829) and
the deductible portion brought forward to Schedule C. In some cases, these expenses were limited. Starting in Tax Year 2013, sole proprietors could also use a simplified method to determine
these costs by reporting on Schedule C square footage (up to 300 square feet) used for the home office. The taxpayer could then take $5 per square foot as a business expense. Prior to 1990,
these expenses were not limited and were included with other expenses, such as depreciation deductions, utilities, and “other” expenses on Schedule C.
4

Statistics of Income Bulletin

6

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
$105.6 billion (13.2 percent) and salaries and wages, accounting
for $97.9 billion (12.2 percent).
Historically, constant dollar depreciation increased almost
every year from 1993 through 2003.6 Between Tax Years 2004
and 2009, constant dollar depreciation dropped significantly,
going from $48.1 billion to $34.5 billion. In Tax Year 2012, it
dropped to $32.5 billion, but subsequently climbed back to $39
billion by 2017 (Figure E). Increases in Tax Years 2003 and
2008 coincided with legislative changes to section 179 of the
Internal Revenue Code that substantially increased the amount
of certain investment property that could be expensed in a given
year rather than depreciated over time. Under the Jobs and
Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, the maximum
allowable section 179 deduction vaulted from $24,000 in 2002
to $100,000 in 2003. This change led to a constant dollar depreciation increase of 11.7 percent for 2003, which was the second
highest growth in depreciation of any year between Tax Years
1988 and 2018. But, the initial jump in depreciation was followed by trends of decreased depreciation, which is consistent
with deductions being accelerated into the year of expensing.
Constant dollar declines of depreciation were reported for Tax
Years 2005, 2006, and 2007. This downward trend was particularly pronounced in 2005, as constant dollar depreciation fell
by 11.7 percent, followed by decreases of 3.2 percent in 2006
and 1.0 percent in 2007. During this same 3-year period, section 179 limits gradually increased for inflation, finally rising to
$125,000 in 2007.7 In 2008, the section 179 limit was doubled to
$250,000 and there was a 2.5-percent increase in constant dollar
depreciation. The $250,000 limit remained for Tax Year 2009
and depreciation dropped 17.3 percent, which was the largest
decrease since at least 1988. In Tax Year 2010, the section 179
limit was again doubled to $500,000, but constant dollar depreciation increased by only 0.4 percent, from $34.5 billion to $34.7
billion. The limit was increased as part of the stimulus packages
created in response to the Great Recession.8 The section 179
limit remained $500,000 for Tax Years 2011 through 2017. For
2011, constant dollar depreciation dropped by 0.7 percent; in
2012 it dropped another 5.6 percent to $34.2 billion, the lowest
level over the 31 years of this study. The Tax Cut and Jobs Act
of 2017 (TCJA) increased the additional first-year depreciation
deduction in IRC section 168(k) from 50 percent to 100 percent for qualified property acquired and placed in service after
September 27, 2017, and before January 1, 2023. The TCJA also

Figure D
Components of Nonfarm Sole Proprietorship Business Expenses
as a Percentage of Total Business Expenses, Tax Year 2018
Total interest

1.3

Office expenses

1.8

Advertising expenses

2.2

Commissions

2.3

Travel

2.4

Taxes paid

2.6

Repairs

2.7

Insurance

2.8

Utilities

4.3

Supplies

5.9

Depreciation [1]

6.3

Rent
on machinery,
equipment
Rent
paidpaid
on machinery,
equipment
and
andbusiness
other business
property
other
property

6.7

Contract labor

8.7

Salaries and wages

12.2

Car and truck expenses

13.2

Other business deductions [2]

24.5
0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Percentage of total business expenses
[1] Depreciation claimed on Expenses for Business Use of Your Home (Form 8829) is included in
"home office business deductions" and excluded from "depreciation" shown above. See footnote [2]
below.
[2] Includes depletion; employee benefit programs; total interest; legal and professional services;
pension and profit-sharing plans; meals and entertainment; home office; and other business expenses.
Other business deductions also includes all Net Profit from Business (Schedule C-EZ) deductions ($4.6
billion).
NOTES: Total business expenses equals all business deductions minus cost of sales and operations.
Percents are based on estimated total business expenses of $800.7 billion. Detail may not add to 100
percent because of rounding.
SOURCE: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Sole Proprietorship Returns, November 2020.

Under section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code, the cost of certain tangible property may be treated as a current expense rather than a capital expenditure subject to depreciation deductions.
The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (OBRA93) increased the maximum amount of investment that could immediately be deducted on property placed in service after 1992, from
$10,000 to $17,500. The increase in the constant dollar depreciation deductions for 1993, and subsequent decline in 1995, may be attributed, in part, to this provision of OBRA93. Following the
enactment of this provision, the 179 deduction for all individuals (not just sole proprietors) filing Depreciation and Amortization (Form 4562) increased 32.4 percent to $13.5 billion for 1993.
7
Under the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, the maximum amount of a section 179 deduction increased from $24,000 for 2002 to $100,000 for 2003 to $102,000 for
2004, and to $105,000 and $108,000 for 2005 and 2006, respectively. This was further expanded to $125,000 for 2007 by the Small Business and Work Opportunity Tax Act of 2007 (PL 110-28).
The Jobs Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002 introduced 30-percent bonus depreciation, and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 increased the bonus percentage
to 50 percent, for property placed in service by January 1, 2005. While bonus depreciation was available to sole proprietors, it was generally not as advantageous as immediate expensing and,
therefore, likely had less effect on their depreciation deductions.
8
For 2008, the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 increased the maximum expensing deduction under section 179 to $250,000. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 extended
that level through 2009. For all individual tax returns that filed Depreciation and Amortization (Form 4562) the section 179 property deducted as an expense increased by 5.1 percent to $49.8
billion for 2008. For 2009, when the maximum 179 deduction remained at $250,000, the amount deducted for all returns decreased by 17.2 percent to $41.3 billion. The amount deducted
as section 179 property on returns that had a Schedule C dropped 19.6 percent to $16.2 billion between 2008 and 2009. For 2010, the amount taxpayers could deduct as section 179 property
increased to $500,000. This was in accordance with the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010. The amount deducted by returns with a Schedule C increased to $18.8 billion, representing
a 15.6-percent increase from 2009. For 2010, the amount deducted on all individual returns increased to $49.6 billion, a 20.3-percent increase from 2009. By 2018, this had increased to $50.2
billion. These numbers do not reflect depreciation solely deducted on the Schedule C, as this could also include depreciation taken on the Supplemental Income and Loss (Schedule E), the Profit
or Loss From Farming (Schedule F), and the Farm Rental Income and Expenses (Form 4835).
6

Statistics of Income Bulletin

7

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Figure E
Nonfarm Sole Proprietorship Net Income, Deficit, and Depreciation, Tax Years 1988–2018
[Money amounts are in billions of dollars]
Tax year

1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018

Constant dollars [1]

Current dollars [1]

Percentage change in constant dollars [1]

Net income

Deficit

Depreciation [2]

Net income

Deficit

Depreciation [2]

Net income

Deficit

Depreciation [2]

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

145.5
152.4
161.7
162.4
173.5
177.0
187.8
191.7
200.1
210.5
226.2
233.4
245.2
250.2
257.3
269.1
290.5
314.8
326.8
335.1
325.3
308.9
323.2
337.0
357.1
357.4
374.5
392.1
389.1
415.8
430.0

19.2
19.7
20.2
20.9
19.5
20.5
21.0
22.5
23.4
23.8
23.9
25.5
30.5
32.8
36.2
38.8
42.9
44.8
48.7
54.5
60.8
64.1
55.5
54.3
52.2
55.1
57.5
60.3
60.9
69.5
81.5

26.1
24.5
23.7
23.1
23.3
25.0
26.2
26.2
27.4
28.6
29.1
30.6
32.2
33.4
36.6
41.8
42.9
39.1
39.0
39.6
41.4
34.5
35.1
35.6
34.2
35.4
36.6
38.4
38.4
42.1
50.8

246.4
248.3
254.0
246.7
257.7
256.8
266.8
266.8
273.5
282.7
300.5
305.6
314.1
313.5
317.4
325.9
342.6
360.0
362.8
362.3
345.0
325.1
336.3
343.5
357.1
351.3
361.4
374.8
368.1
386.0
389.9

[3]
0.8
2.3
-2.9
4.5
-0.3
3.9
[4]
2.5
3.4
6.3
1.7
2.8
-0.2
1.2
2.7
5.1
5.1
0.8
-0.1
-4.8
-5.8
3.4
2.1
4.0
-1.6
2.9
3.7
-1.8
4.9
1.0

[3]
-1.3
-1.2
0.1
-8.8
2.7
0.3
4.8
2.1
0.2
-0.7
4.9
17.2
5.2
8.6
5.2
7.8
1.3
5.5
9.0
9.3
4.6
-14.3
-4.1
-5.8
3.9
2.3
3.9
[4]
12.0
14.4

[3]
-9.7
-6.8
-5.7
-1.4
4.8
2.6
-1.9
2.4
2.8
0.6
3.7
2.8
1.6
7.9
11.9
0.1
-11.7
-3.1
-1.0
2.5
-17.3
0.5
-0.7
-5.7
1.5
1.5
4.1
-1.1
7.5
17.9

32.5
32.1
31.7
31.8
29.0
29.7
29.8
31.3
31.9
32.0
31.8
33.3
39.1
41.1
44.6
47.0
50.6
51.3
54.1
59.0
64.4
67.4
57.8
55.4
52.2
54.2
55.5
57.6
57.6
64.6
73.9

44.2
39.9
37.2
35.1
34.6
36.3
37.2
36.5
37.4
38.5
38.7
40.1
41.2
41.9
45.2
50.6
50.6
44.7
43.3
42.9
44.0
36.4
36.5
36.3
34.2
34.8
35.3
36.7
36.3
39.1
46.0

[1] Current dollars are the value of a dollar at the time it was measured. Constant dollars are based on the overall implicit price deflator for gross domestic product computed and reported by the U.S.
Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, in the Survey of Current Business. The deflator represents the annual average of current-weighted prices, based on 2012 = 100.
[2] Excludes depreciation claimed on Expenses for Business Use of Your Home (Form 8829).
[3] Not calculated.
[4] Less than 0.05 percent.
NOTE: Percentage changes were calculated before rounding.
SOURCE: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Sole Proprietorship Returns, November 2020.

expanded bonus depreciation to certain used property. Tax Year
2018 was the first year that the TCJA impacted depreciation and
accordingly, constant dollar depreciation rose by 18 percent to
$46 billion. This represents the highest percent real growth in
depreciation for all 31 years included in this study.
Beginning with Tax Year 1992, certain smaller businesses
could elect not to itemize depreciation and other business deductions by filing Schedule C-EZ, Net Profit From Business, a
simplified version of Schedule C, Profit or Loss From Business.
(Schedules C and C-EZ are the sources of nonfarm sole proprietorship statistics.) For Tax Year 2018, taxpayers could use
Schedule C-EZ if they: had business expenses of $5,000 or
less; used the cash accounting method; had no inventories; did
not report a loss from the business; had only one business as
a sole proprietor; had no employees; were not required to file
Form 4562, Depreciation and Amortization, for the business;

claimed no deduction for home business expenses; and had no
prior-year disallowed passive activity losses from the business.
Since taxpayers using Schedule C-EZ did not itemize business
deductions, the detailed deductions in Table 2, based only on
Schedule C returns, are slightly understated and do not sum to
the total deductions in Figure C.
For Tax Year 2018, approximately 5.4 million taxpayers filed
the Schedule C-EZ. The sectors with the highest percentage of
Schedule C-EZ filers were the administrative and support sector
(27.8 percent of total returns) and the health care and social assistance sector (24.3 percent of total returns). The sectors with
the lowest rates of Schedule C-EZ filings were real estate and
wholesale trade with 9.2 percent and 13 percent of returns respectively (Figure F).9
For 2018, business receipts from Schedule C-EZ filers totaled
$45 billion, or 2.8 percent of total business receipts reported.

Based on the NAICS system, the full name of the administrative and support services sector is administrative and support and waste management and remediation services sector. The waste
management and remediation services portion makes up a small percentage of the overall numbers reported under this classification, which are detailed in Table 1.
9

Statistics of Income Bulletin

8

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Figure F
All Nonfarm Sole Proprietorship Returns and Those with Schedule C-EZ, by Selected Industrial Sector, Tax Year 2018
[Number of returns is in thousands, money amounts are in millions of dollars]

Selected industrial sector

All nonfarm industries
Construction
Wholesale trade (merchant wholesalers)
Retail trade
Transportation and warehousing
Finance and insurance
Real estate and rental and leasing
Professional, scientific, and technical services
Administrative and support and waste
management services
Health care and social assistance
Arts, entertainment, and recreation
Other services
All other industries

Number of returns

Total business receipts

(1)

With
Schedule
C-EZ
(2)

Percentage
of
total
(3)

(4)

On
Schedule
C-EZ
(5)

Percentage
of
total
(6)

27,117.2
2,901.7
349.7
2,401.8
2,589.2
673.6
1,362.2
3,650.3

5,350.7
455.2
45.3
334.4
329.8
78.1
130.8
662.5

19.7
15.7
13.0
13.9
12.7
11.6
9.6
18.1

1,589,748.6
269,860.1
53,250.5
187,588.9
140,187.9
90,012.3
92,951.7
203,648.3

44,963.8
4,881.3
427.4
1,830.3
1,978.7
948.1
1,440.8
7,847.4

2.8
1.8
0.8
1.0
1.4
1.1
1.6
3.9

2,626.4
2,071.6
1,723.8
3,623.4
3,143.6

729.7
503.8
428.8
789.8
862.6

27.8
24.3
24.9
21.8
27.4

83,385.0
120,062.5
51,768.2
122,912.4
174,120.7

6,192.7
5,147.3
2,183.1
6,920.3
5,166.6

7.4
4.3
4.2
5.6
3.0

Total

Total

Total business deductions [1]
On
Schedule
C-EZ
(8)

Percentage
of
total
(9)

1,242,400.4
225,606.1
48,921.6
176,712.2
122,388.0
66,157.9
62,067.4
118,755.6

4,617.2
428.1
38.4
274.8
392.3
40.4
191.6
612.8

0.4
0.2
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.1
0.3
0.5

60,024.8
74,319.2
39,128.7
92,237.0
156,081.9

584.3
392.4
357.2
787.7
517.2

1.0
0.5
0.9
0.9
0.3

Total
(7)

[1] Total business deductions are calculated before subtraction of nonallowable "passive" activity losses and any "passive loss" carryover from prior years.
NOTES: Certain smaller sole proprietorships could elect not to itemize business expenses by filing Net Profit From Business (Schedule C-EZ). See the text of this article for a full list of the requirements to be
eligible to file Schedule C-EZ. Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. Percentages were calculated before rounding.
SOURCE: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Sole Proprietorship Returns, November 2020.

Business deductions reported on Schedule C-EZ returns accounted for only 0.4 percent of total business deductions for
all industries, or $4.6 billion of the total $1,242.4 billion. The
largest concentration of Schedule C-EZ filers was in the administrative and support services sector, which accounted for 7.4
percent of that sector’s total business receipts and 1 percent of
that sector’s total business deductions.

Figure G
Nonfarm Sole Proprietorship Profits, by Selected Industrial
Sector, Tax Years 2017 and 2018
[Money amounts are in billions of dollars]
Net income less deficit (profits)
Selected industrial sector

Profits and Losses

Total profits increased 0.7 percent, from $346.2 billion for Tax
Year 2017 to $348.5 billion for Tax Year 2018. By industrial
sector, changes to profits were mixed, with 7 of the 12 sectors
analyzed reporting increased sole proprietorship profits (net
income less deficit). The professional, scientific, and technical
services sector reported the largest percentage of total profits of
all nonfarm sole proprietorships, with 24.4 percent ($85 billion),
and the sector had a $2.2 billion (2.6-percent) increase in profits for 2018 compared to the previous year. The second largest
sector by profits, health care and social assistance, reported a
decrease in profits over last year, falling 2.9 percent to $45.9
billion. The largest percentage increase in profits was realized
in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector, which jumped
11.1 percent for a gain of $1.3 billion. Figure C presents total
profits for all industries (in both current and constant dollars)
since 1988, while Figures G and H present profits by industrial
sector for 2017 and 2018.10
In constant dollars, total profits dropped by 1.7 percent for
2018 going from $321.2 billion in 2017 to $316 billion in 2018.
Figure I shows net income less deficits as a percentage of business receipts for 1988 through 2018. In general, this percentage
10

2017

2018

Percentage
change
(3)

(1)

(2)

All nonfarm industries

346.2

348.5

0.7

Construction

43.8

44.3

1.2
-10.9

Wholesale trade (merchant wholesalers)

4.9

4.4

Retail trade

10.4

10.9

5.4

Transportation and warehousing

16.8

17.9

6.9

Finance and insurance

22.9

23.9

4.4

Real estate and rental and leasing

33.0

31.0

-6.2

Professional, scientific, and technical services
Administrative and support and waste
management services
Health care and social assistance

82.8

85.0

2.6

24.4

23.4

-3.8

47.3

45.9

-2.9

Arts, entertainment, and recreation

11.5

12.8

11.1

Other services

29.6

30.7

3.6

All other sectors

18.9

18.3

-3.1

NOTES: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding. Percentage changes were
calculated before rounding.
SOURCE: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Sole Proprietorship Returns, November 2020.

has increased over time from a low of 18.8 percent for 1988, the
exceptions being the periods leading up to the recession in the
early 2000s and the Great Recession, starting in 2008. Since
2010, net income less deficit as a percentage of total business
receipts has been between 21.9 (2018) and 23.4 percent (2012).
The 21.9 percent observed in 2018 is the same as the percentage observed in 2003. Figure E presents net income and deficit

Net income minus deficit (loss) before Federal income tax yields profits. Proprietors compute their tax on total “taxable income,” which includes their business profits, plus any other income.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

9

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Figure H
Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Selected Industrial Sector Profits
as a Percentage of Total Profits, Tax Year 2018
Wholesale trade (merchant wholesalers)

separately for 1988 through 2018 in current and constant dollars.
For 2018, net income (in constant dollars) increased by 1 percent and deficit (in constant dollars) increased by 14.4 percent.

Limited Liability Companies

1.2

Retail trade

3.1

Arts, entertainment, and recreation

3.7

Transportation and warehousing

5.1

All other sectors

5.3

Administrative and support and waste
management services

6.7

Finance and insurance

6.9

Other services

8.8

Real estate and rental and leasing

8.9

Construction

12.7

Health care and social assistance

13.2

Professional, scientific, and technical
services

Tax Year 2001 was the first year for which data became available on the number of limited liability companies (LLCs) among
nonfarm sole proprietorship returns. LLC entities have limited
liability (like corporations), but they may be taxed as sole proprietorships (for which income and expenses flow through to the
owner to be taxed), if owned by one individual. In 2001, there
were a little over 126,000 sole proprietorship returns that indicated status as an LLC or just 0.7 percent of total sole proprietorship returns (Figure J). In contrast, for Tax Year 2018, there
were 2.1 million such sole proprietorships, which accounted for
7.8 percent of the total nonfarm sole proprietorship returns, a
more than 16-fold increase in the number of returns since 2001.
The share of total nonfarm sole proprietorship business receipts
attributed to LLCs also rose during this period, from approximately 2.3 percent in 2001 to 28.9 percent in 2018 (Figure K).
Similarly, the portion of total net income (less deficit) of all nonfarm sole proprietorships attributable to LLCs increased, from
1.0 percent in 2001 to 15.9 percent in 2018.

24.4
0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Percentage of total profits
NOTES: Percentages are based on estimated total profits of $348.5 billion. Detail may not add to 100
percent because of rounding. Profits is a designation for "net income less deficit," discussed elsewhere
in this article.
SOURCE: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Sole Proprietorship Returns, November 2020.

Figure I
Nonfarm Sole Proprietorship Net Income Less Deficit (Profits) as a Percentage of Total Business Receipts, Tax Years 1988–2018
Percentage
25

24

23.4

23

22.4
22.0
21.4
20.9

21

21.1
20.7

19.2

22.3
21.7

21.4
21.5

21.7

23.0

23.1
22.6

22.5
21.9

21.2

21.0

20.8

19.9

20

18

21.5

21.0
21.0

22.1

21.9

22

19

22.7

20.1

19.4

18.8

1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Tax year
SOURCE: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Sole Proprietorship Returns, November 2020.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

10

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Figure J
Number of Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships Registered as Limited Liability Companies (LLCs), Tax Years 2001–2018
Tax year
2018

2,119,147

2017

2,066,851

2016

1,868,459

2015

1,715,430

2014

1,619,099

2013

1,474,592

2012

1,324,196

2011

1,125,132

2010

1,059,910

2009

991,809

2008

842,819

2007

746,885

2006

606,889

2005

455,734

2004

309,665

2003

220,615

2002

145,839

2001

126,437
0

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

Number of returns filed by nonfarm sole proprietorships registered as LLCs
SOURCE: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Sole Proprietorship Returns, November 2020.

Figure K
Number of Returns, Business Receipts, and Profits for All Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships and Those Registered as Limited Liability
Companies (LLCs), Tax Years 2001–2018
[Money amounts are in thousands of dollars]
Number of returns
Tax Year

Total business receipts

All Nonfarm
Sole
Proprietorships

Nonfarm Sole
Proprietorships
registered
as LLCs

LLCs Percentage
of all
Nonfarm Sole
Proprietorships

(1)

All Nonfarm
Sole
Proprietorships

Net income less deficit

Nonfarm Sole
Proprietorships
registered
as LLCs

LLCs Percentage
of all
Nonfarm Sole
Proprietorships

(5)

All Nonfarm
Sole
Proprietorships

Nonfarm Sole
Proprietorships
registered
as LLCs

LLCs Percentage
of all
Nonfarm Sole
Proprietorships

(2)

(3)

(4)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

2001

18,338,190

126,437

0.7

1,016,834,678

23,357,818

2.3

217,385,116

2,259,135

1.0

2002

18,925,517

145,839

0.8

1,029,691,760

39,239,656

3.8

221,113,286

3,378,774

1.5

2003

19,710,079

220,615

1.1

1,050,202,446

55,626,849

5.3

230,308,100

3,847,617

1.7

2004

20,590,691

309,665

1.5

1,139,523,760

82,850,651

7.3

247,567,189

6,743,666

2.7

2005

21,467,566

455,734

2.1

1,222,880,231

119,603,018

9.8

269,919,995

10,902,821

4.0

2006

22,074,953

606,889

2.7

1,278,359,791

151,746,232

11.9

278,032,643

14,270,523

5.1

2007

23,122,698

746,885

3.2

1,324,403,080

185,837,712

14.0

280,557,010

16,235,182

5.8

2008

22,614,483

842,819

3.7

1,317,443,005

205,646,039

15.6

264,508,362

18,215,151

6.9

2009

22,659,976

991,809

4.4

1,178,437,093

205,194,197

17.4

244,821,815

18,522,837

7.6

2010

23,003,656

1,059,910

4.6

1,195,538,629

220,116,934

18.4

267,699,702

23,915,511

8.9

2011

23,426,940

1,125,132

4.8

1,265,939,196

244,024,850

19.3

282,649,926

27,093,827

9.6

2012

23,553,850

1,324,196

5.6

1,301,569,749

291,350,534

22.4

304,895,911

35,841,019

11.8

2013

24,074,684

1,474,592

6.1

1,341,571,082

316,224,871

23.6

302,269,621

37,151,475

12.3

2014

24,631,831

1,619,099

6.6

1,393,884,201

342,093,644

24.5

317,058,087

43,427,440

13.7

2015

25,226,245

1,715,430

6.8

1,443,584,972

370,123,809

25.6

331,832,538

48,902,901

14.7

2016

25,525,915

1,868,459

7.3

1,422,204,586

399,904,053

28.1

328,209,453

51,214,709

15.6

2017

26,426,406

2,066,851

7.8

1,531,346,020

449,128,268

29.3

346,241,776

55,889,306

15.6

2018

27,117,163

2,119,147

7.8

1,589,748,596

459,459,012

28.9

348,509,654

55,514,156

15.9

SOURCE: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Sole Proprietorship Returns, November 2020.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

11

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Figure L
Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Selected Industrial Sector Business Receipts as a Percentage of Total Business Receipts,
Tax Year 2018
Arts, entertainment, and recreation

3.3

Wholesale trade (merchant wholesalers)

3.3

Administrative and support and waste management services

5.2

Finance and insurance

5.7

Real estate and rental and leasing

5.8

Health care and social assistance

7.6

Other services

7.7

Transportation and warehousing

8.8

All other industries

11.0

Retail trade

11.8

Professional, scientific, and technical services

12.8

Construction

17.0
0

5

10

15

20

Percentage of total receipts
NOTES: Percentages are based on estimated total business receipts of $1.6 trillion. Detail may not add to 100 percent because of rounding.
SOURCE: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Sole Proprietorship Returns, November 2020

Summary

2019. Returns in the sample were stratified based on: (1) the
presence or absence of Profit or Loss From Business (Sole
Proprietorship) (Schedule C), or Net Profit From Business
(Schedule C-EZ), and Farm Income and Expenses (Schedule
F); (2) the larger of positive income or negative income (i.e.,
“adjusted gross income” before statutory adjustments); and (3)
tax year. The returns were selected at rates that ranged from 0.1
percent to 100 percent. The 2018 nonfarm sole proprietorship
data are based on a sample of 101,579 returns and a population of 27,422,459 returns.11 The corresponding data for 2017
were based on a sample of 98,246 returns and a population of
26,788,623 returns.
Since the data presented in this article are estimates based
on a sample of returns filed, they are subject to sampling error.
To use the statistical data estimates provided, the magnitude
of the potential sampling error must be known; coefficients of
variation (CVs) are used to measure that magnitude. Figure M
presents estimated coefficients of variation for total business receipts, total business deductions, depreciation, net income, and
deficit by selected industrial sector. Generally, the smaller the
coefficient of variation, the more reliable the estimate is judged

Profits for the 27.1 million returns with sole proprietorship
activity for Tax Year 2018 increased by 0.7 percent from Tax
Year 2017, to a level of $348.5 billion. In constant dollars, total
nonfarm sole proprietorship profits for 2018 decreased 1.7 percent. The professional, scientific, and technical services sector
had the largest profits of any sector, at $85 billion, representing
24.4 percent of total sole proprietorship profits, followed by the
health care and social assistance sector, at $45.9 billion or 13.2
percent of total profits. Overall sole proprietorship business receipts increased 3.8 percent. The largest industrial sector, based
on business receipts, was the construction sector, accounting for
17 percent of total business receipts (Figure L). The transportation and warehousing sector had the largest percentage increases
in returns (10 percent) and receipts (18.2 percent).

Data Sources and Limitations

The 2018 sole proprietorship estimates are based on a stratified probability sample of unaudited individual income tax returns, Form 1040 (including electronically filed returns), processed by the Internal Revenue Service during Calendar Year

The difference between the number of returns in the population and the total number of returns in Tables 1 and 2 is mainly due to returns in which Schedule C income was moved to other
income or wages to avoid double counting of taxpayers for Gross Domestic Product calculations. In addition, data from amended and tentative returns are not reflected in these statistics.
11

Statistics of Income Bulletin

12

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Figure M
Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Coefficients of Variation for Selected Items, by Selected Industrial Sector, Tax Year 2018
[Coefficients of variation are in percentages]
Coefficients of variation
Selected industrial sector

All industries (000000-999999)
Construction (236100-238990)
Wholesale trade (423100-425120)
Retail trade (441110-454390)
Transportation and warehousing (481000-493100)
Finance and insurance (522100-525990)
Real estate and rental leasing (531100-533110)
Professional, scientific, and technical services (541100-541990)
Administrative and support and waste management services (561110-562000)
Health care and social assistance (621111-624410)
Arts, entertainment, and recreation
(711100-713900)
Other services (811110-813000)
All other industries

Total business
receipts
E91540_0

Total business
deductions
E91530_0

Depreciation
E91190_0

Net income
E91440_0+

Deficit
E91440_0-

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

0.59
2.10
4.90
2.47
2.36
2.53
2.63
1.66
2.82
1.91
3.43
2.53
2.13

0.67
2.22
5.02
2.47
2.35
2.72
2.95
2.01
3.18
2.03
3.74
2.82
2.15

1.47
4.23
13.71
5.49
4.36
8.54
4.72
4.79
6.27
4.94
6.24
5.61
3.16

0.73
2.37
6.70
3.60
3.10
3.61
3.18
1.87
2.94
2.39
3.85
2.60
2.82

1.38
5.50
9.94
4.21
5.07
6.58
4.55
4.28
5.47
6.51
5.12
4.59
3.60

[1] Excludes depreciation claimed on Expenses for Business Use of Your Home (Form 8829).
SOURCE: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Sole Proprietorship Returns, November 2020.

to be. The SOI Sampling Methodology and Data Limitations
section of the SOI Bulletin, available at http://www.irs.gov/pub/
irs-soi/sampling.pdf, discusses the reliability of estimates based
on samples and the use of coefficients of variation for evaluating
the precision of estimates based on samples.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

Adrian Dungan is an economist with the Individual Special Studies
Section. This article was prepared under the direction of Michael
Strudler, Management and Program Analyst, Individual and Tax-Exempt
Branch.

13

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Table 1. Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Business Receipts, Selected Deductions, Payroll, and Net Income, by
Industrial Sectors, Tax Year 2018
[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Businesses with and without net income
Industrial sector

All nonfarm industries
Agriculture, forestry, hunting, and fishing

Number
of returns

Business
receipts

(1)

(2)

Rent paid
Depreciation on machinery
and
deduction [1,2]
equipment [1]
(3)

27,117,163 1,589,748,596

(4)

Rent paid
on other
business
property [1]

Interest paid
deduction [1,3]

(5)

(6)

Payroll [1,4]

Net income
less deficit

(7)

(8)

52,022,365

11,452,287

42,320,734

10,535,743

139,265,542

348,509,654

320,437

23,139,333

2,340,234

165,760

324,226

269,851

1,966,729

1,459,706

Animal production (including breeding of cats and dogs)

46,206

1,751,008

289,477

1,961

28,478

19,407

183,459

-434,268

Forestry and logging (including forest nurseries, timber tracts)

49,119

6,129,050

649,474

94,372

24,538

70,599

496,777

606,963

Fishing, hunting, and trapping

70,916

2,763,520

593,619

5,860

89,499

36,053

71,791

207,340

Support activities for agriculture and forestry

154,196

12,495,754

807,665

63,567

181,711

143,791

1,214,701

1,079,671

Mining

104,965

11,117,876

1,191,742

79,249

86,168

175,757

830,715

1,395,205

Oil and gas extraction

77,367

6,276,620

546,734

21,472

42,563

83,362

312,646

570,277

Other mining

6,634

1,463,769

302,512

13,568

15,369

59,909

109,986

85,531

Support activities for mining

20,964

3,377,487

342,497

44,209

28,236

32,485

408,084

739,398

Utilities

12,472

594,702

110,178

* 382

3,030

24,744

8,444

55,794

2,901,667

269,860,103

8,315,387

1,693,183

1,978,255

1,150,668

31,646,794

44,304,538

Construction of buildings

608,117

77,636,683

1,992,581

320,292

422,775

395,695

8,188,877

10,109,819

Heavy and civil engineering construction

58,382

9,166,120

554,849

111,067

50,651

81,182

1,195,324

1,252,169

2,235,168

183,057,300

5,767,957

1,261,824

1,504,828

673,790

22,262,593

32,942,550

Construction

Specialty trade contractors
Manufacturing

354,185

33,967,257

1,347,959

181,242

1,067,629

233,814

4,352,277

3,622,232

Food manufacturing

51,926

5,955,668

244,187

25,728

228,442

55,858

745,762

102,189

Textile and textile product mills

12,499

583,918

25,159

* 3,386

* 11,387

* 10,685

* 54,050

30,034

Apparel

14,301

851,324

27,712

** 473

48,266

** 6,678

97,274

-58,202

Leather and allied products

7,540

257,364

* 2,394

**

* 5,322

**

* 4,599

58,883

Wood products

28,148

2,839,173

** 130,155

** 13,894

** 44,717

** 18,234

** 477,732

243,244

Paper products

* 3,040

* 142,667

**

**

**

**

**

* 17,221

Printing and related support activities

22,905

1,918,868

46,791

* 16,089

80,124

16,315

168,241

272,739

Petroleum and coal products

2,661

47,389

* 6,022

**

**

0

* 10,118

-22,436

Chemical manufacturing

22,573

1,950,854

74,018

** 35,712

** 56,948

10,140

116,854

260,129

Plastic and rubber products

5,699

793,690

39,270

* 2,889

15,223

2,484

128,698

123,667

Nonmetallic mineral products

13,147

895,904

46,486

9,581

5,985

11,891

91,142

51,872

Primary metal industries

5,734

471,152

* 9,494

**

* 11,206

* 1,250

* 65,489

81,584

Fabricated metal products

24,796

4,340,654

275,588

** 7,576

74,842

31,614

704,767

552,457

Machinery

23,997

1,839,171

83,642

6,697

64,386

10,048

313,440

289,137

Computer and electronic products

7,521

1,096,720

16,835

**

43,316

* 4,960

145,412

159,058

Electrical equipment, appliances, and components

10,857

1,005,913

23,243

** 2,859

* 64,056

* 6,492

201,865

107,450

Transportation equipment

11,137

604,798

40,447

* 3,382

6,031

4,915

56,251

-2,067

Furniture and related products

21,548

2,223,907

48,127

* 18,186

110,954

8,173

268,744

530,173

Miscellaneous manufacturing

64,156

6,148,122

208,391

34,791

196,425

34,077

701,839

825,100

349,685

53,250,491

958,888

205,826

831,639

231,072

2,638,237

4,353,428

Durable goods, including machinery, wood, metals, etc.

158,053

24,271,882

557,861

118,389

454,207

98,540

1,288,804

1,930,497

Nondurable goods, including food, fiber, chemicals, etc.

113,463

22,267,275

317,609

54,700

287,063

101,369

992,779

1,195,695

Wholesale trade (merchant wholesalers)

Wholesale electronic markets and agents and brokers

78,168

6,711,334

83,418

32,737

90,368

31,163

356,654

1,227,235

2,401,769

187,588,890

3,195,674

687,156

5,790,751

1,109,610

10,329,493

10,938,785

Motor vehicle and parts dealers

147,938

39,240,766

504,221

73,977

623,609

278,637

1,756,277

905,745

Furniture and home furnishing stores

37,749

4,233,446

48,988

19,068

165,359

26,457

333,450

499,096

Electronic stores and household appliance stores

11,425

3,824,552

42,349

91,590

84,559

4,589

252,585

280,253

Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers

34,348

7,164,429

192,605

22,542

138,955

52,987

702,038

756,458

Food and beverage stores

84,753

25,487,946

392,132

63,791

977,303

95,441

1,960,475

815,883

Health and personal care stores

159,745

8,697,086

88,246

39,172

288,874

47,017

555,898

680,625

Retail trade

Gasoline stations

8,599

14,460,833

195,813

19,479

177,640

90,255

646,869

248,101

Clothing and accessories stores

162,521

11,001,277

204,908

54,766

797,247

77,697

766,617

294,808

Sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores

97,829

5,567,546

107,379

32,029

297,193

43,847

386,141

161,823

General merchandise stores

32,972

3,608,250

20,777

9,716

121,472

19,138

189,429

194,601

Miscellaneous store retailers

562,742

31,986,823

650,225

171,688

1,578,856

210,624

2,044,052

3,140,822

Electronic shopping and mail-order houses

180,514

10,033,233

91,984

18,921

111,787

63,241

125,691

867,704

Nonstore retailers

880,635

22,282,703

656,046

70,416

427,899

99,679

609,971

2,092,866

Transportation and warehousing

2,589,195

140,187,881

8,757,304

3,423,934

1,347,788

974,487

6,523,062

17,936,113

Air and rail transportation

18,640

1,770,908

611,034

12,560

39,963

53,794

155,157

-213,881

Water transportation

6,406

1,175,947

304,007

* 12,752

8,269

25,811

130,825

-47,498

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

14

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Table 1. Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Business Receipts, Selected Deductions, Payroll, and Net Income, by
Industrial Sectors, Tax Year 2018—Continued
[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Businesses with net income
Industrial sector

All nonfarm industries
Agriculture, forestry, hunting, and fishing

Number
of returns

Business
receipts

(9)

(10)

Rent paid
Depreciation on machinery
and
deduction [1,2]
equipment [1]
(11)

19,634,588 1,345,893,194

(12)

Rent paid
on other
business
property [1]

Interest paid
deduction [1,3]

(13)

28,759,321

8,305,509

(14)

Payroll [1,4]

Net income

(15)

(16)

31,702,029

5,795,902

108,125,724

429,990,931

205,048

17,396,930

1,062,247

108,918

190,873

130,111

1,455,548

3,620,110

Animal production (including breeding of cats and dogs)

18,399

1,073,569

77,233

* 1,012

* 13,058

* 1,226

100,638

255,825

Forestry and logging (including forest nurseries, timber tracts)

34,731

4,663,275

425,234

61,712

11,221

43,985

388,912

859,430

Fishing, hunting, and trapping

45,314

2,108,989

160,322

* 1,388

16,714

16,414

42,544

695,052

Support activities for agriculture and forestry

106,604

9,551,096

399,458

44,806

149,879

68,487

923,453

1,809,803

Mining
Oil and gas extraction

67,210

7,946,112

656,850

43,836

51,681

103,948

433,031

2,576,863

51,255

4,278,792

233,873

6,587

17,685

35,299

168,121

1,475,092

Other mining

2,900

1,239,797

230,868

7,904

* 10,212

53,474

56,260

170,816

Support activities for mining

13,056

2,427,523

192,109

29,344

23,784

15,176

208,650

930,956

Utilities

7,815

487,137

35,507

* 109

2,589

6,144

* 7,295

205,337

2,397,728

239,628,313

6,006,465

1,405,601

1,602,755

804,856

26,821,152

50,548,580

Construction of buildings

504,498

67,054,525

1,403,579

264,655

325,673

241,157

6,443,962

11,686,869

Heavy and civil engineering construction

45,264

7,523,183

370,706

91,717

45,070

54,186

936,035

1,613,718

1,847,966

165,050,605

4,232,181

1,049,229

1,232,012

509,513

19,441,155

37,247,993

Construction

Specialty trade contractors
Manufacturing

222,229

27,204,804

770,631

109,467

770,459

125,667

3,063,985

5,601,108

Food manufacturing

31,144

4,302,489

97,214

7,869

162,654

24,547

425,198

648,650

Textile and textile product mills

4,570

468,889

* 6,459

* 236

* 7,875

* 4,167

* 50,967

94,892

Apparel

3,099

420,617

4,457

** 338

** 32,514

** 1,210

** 45,783

93,465

Leather and allied products

6,137

238,576

* 1,028

**

**

**

**

72,695

Wood products

16,306

2,443,316

** 97,940

** 12,804

** 35,229

** 12,083

** 396,875

305,085

Paper products

* 3,037

* 79,368

**

**

**

**

**

* 30,181

Printing and related support activities

20,070

1,749,736

34,552

* 15,195

75,619

10,343

* 138,274

306,162

Petroleum and coal products

1,217

37,541

**

**

**

0

**

2,526

Chemical manufacturing

15,812

1,455,748

** 43,414

** 5,158

** 9,615

5,505

** 79,865

432,966

Plastic and rubber products

3,444

655,262

3,709

* 341

* 12,065

* 1,052

* 110,693

156,237

Nonmetallic mineral products

9,149

679,982

22,918

* 8,707

* 3,002

8,632

* 52,678

122,775

Primary metal industries

4,706

441,763

* 4,418

**

* 10,941

* 1,023

* 56,931

81,725

Fabricated metal products

12,903

3,715,472

205,460

** 6,268

59,174

25,985

555,797

662,217

Machinery

16,747

1,521,036

70,152

6,695

36,261

5,037

177,362

358,584

Computer and electronic products

4,496

835,100

* 11,165

0

* 27,806

* 1,201

* 39,186

251,530

Electrical equipment, appliances, and components

7,948

757,863

* 8,772

* 2,829

* 57,250

* 3,954

* 152,955

126,281

Transportation equipment

6,922

464,841

8,369

* 3,354

* 3,448

* 1,407

* 34,157

91,648

Furniture and related products

13,759

1,926,347

24,395

* 18,186

85,100

* 5,381

214,401

629,534
1,133,956

Miscellaneous manufacturing

40,762

5,010,858

126,208

21,487

151,908

14,141

532,865

213,067

44,357,850

515,795

140,256

592,369

119,834

1,968,805

6,212,858

Durable goods, including machinery, wood, metals, etc.

93,518

20,164,109

284,811

75,201

351,221

52,232

971,910

2,777,030

Nondurable goods, including food, fiber, chemicals, etc.

70,681

18,580,596

190,595

43,587

191,031

52,115

719,925

1,971,555

Wholesale electronic markets and agents and brokers

48,868

5,613,145

40,389

21,468

50,116

15,487

276,970

1,464,274

1,308,539

149,496,486

1,668,973

440,463

3,843,495

645,782

7,343,599

21,036,650

Motor vehicle and parts dealers

88,891

29,878,060

272,510

51,433

365,188

156,223

1,236,164

2,159,291

Furniture and home furnishing stores

22,832

3,342,451

37,208

4,020

92,794

21,727

275,492

661,674

Electronic stores and household appliance stores

8,164

3,043,686

40,361

85,914

73,105

4,273

158,264

307,820

Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers

24,378

6,460,995

154,949

17,179

132,553

44,778

633,469

845,474

Food and beverage stores

56,943

21,026,739

212,968

46,833

692,930

55,894

1,431,100

1,314,437

Health and personal care stores

84,917

6,513,430

46,472

17,741

192,468

16,222

356,409

1,155,166

Gasoline stations

6,491

11,838,033

92,421

15,731

117,685

47,754

521,771

414,646

Clothing and accessories stores

80,778

8,723,219

60,489

36,891

555,728

45,902

445,864

1,351,170

Sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores

50,172

4,170,835

56,638

14,539

198,869

32,568

274,020

600,578

General merchandise stores

21,702

3,005,777

12,886

* 7,336

97,203

17,403

131,061

329,210

Miscellaneous store retailers

335,615

25,155,379

339,228

88,618

1,027,045

105,217

1,396,998

5,550,377

Electronic shopping and mail-order houses

105,658

8,721,553

49,233

17,971

57,432

47,364

102,928

1,491,911

Nonstore retailers

421,999

17,616,328

293,610

36,258

240,496

50,455

380,058

4,854,896

1,851,556

118,297,870

4,835,313

2,813,058

1,046,981

573,535

4,686,421

25,529,298

Air and rail transportation

14,756

984,467

42,450

1,402

15,737

8,872

62,222

307,815

Water transportation

3,859

564,632

9,344

* 7,642

* 1,900

* 1,919

* 28,634

255,287

Wholesale trade (merchant wholesalers)

Retail trade

Transportation and warehousing

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

15

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Table 1. Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Business Receipts, Selected Deductions, Payroll, and Net Income, by
Industrial Sectors, Tax Year 2018—Continued
[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Businesses with and without net income—continued
Industrial sector

Number
of returns

Rent paid
Depreciation on machinery
and
deduction [1,2]
equipment [1]

Business
receipts

(1)

Interest paid
deduction [1,3]

Net income
less deficit

Payroll [1,4]

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

704,564

88,582,942

6,182,674

1,638,484

698,122

600,080

4,862,614

11,934,418

1,103,024

26,481,055

652,662

1,407,164

263,762

123,366

191,088

3,760,332

248,887

5,514,244

231,191

** 149,577

** 28,370

25,054

290,159

575,034

Pipeline transportation

3,587

548,242

* 305

**

**

* 11

* 7,248

32,005

Scenic and sightseeing transportation
Support activities for transportation (including motor vehicle
towing)

14,014

645,009

153,585

* 21,438

51,379

44,301

79,492

-64,527

72,062

5,632,641

453,890

43,839

107,355

40,781

510,945

521,898

Couriers and messengers

406,203

8,992,482

133,171

107,381

88,540

54,916

230,855

1,335,385

Truck transportation
Taxi, limousine service, and ridesharing service
Other transit and ground transportation

Warehousing and storage facilities

(2)

Rent paid
on other
business
property [1]

(8)

11,809

844,410

34,785

30,740

62,028

6,374

64,679

102,946

366,120

13,616,278

678,865

145,317

326,667

90,478

981,823

3,264,124

Publishing industries (except internet)

48,970

1,849,695

16,630

2,732

37,537

3,631

107,146

587,083

Motion picture and sound recording
Broadcasting (except internet) and telecommunications and
internet service providers
Data processing, internet publishing and broadcasting, and web
search portals

142,000

4,279,443

393,499

62,953

171,219

26,964

285,894

767,092

59,412

3,226,195

127,776

73,073

52,558

17,700

250,151

683,915

115,738

4,260,945

140,960

6,559

65,353

42,183

338,631

1,226,034

673,588

90,012,296

966,787

248,820

1,757,690

550,560

5,324,330

23,889,197

Information

Finance and insurance
Credit intermediation and related activities

38,909

2,965,081

63,645

19,836

53,627

80,743

200,166

554,845

Securities, commodity contracts, and other financial investments

190,064

51,464,847

396,422

88,737

550,602

242,766

2,077,118

9,956,287

Investment bankers and securities dealers

10,387

6,282,912

8,484

3,189

23,580

8,791

99,255

594,733

Securities brokers

12,893

4,927,187

40,926

10,637

20,687

6,134

74,598

949,529

Commodity contracts brokers and dealers

5,873

1,451,448

18,904

* 166

** 5,917

5,208

53,141

112,794

Securities and commodity exchanges

581

1,026,759

* 326

0

**

1,359

* 1,956

-18,194

Other financial investment activities (investment advice)

160,331

37,776,541

327,782

74,745

500,417

221,274

1,848,168

8,317,425

Insurance agents, brokers, and related activities

434,562

35,239,655

502,781

140,109

1,151,387

226,522

3,039,195

13,248,586

Insurance agencies and brokerages

314,606

26,815,586

373,572

122,196

989,228

185,765

2,592,533

9,470,913

Other insurance related activities and other financial vehicles

119,956

8,424,069

129,208

17,914

162,158

40,757

446,662

3,777,673

Funds, trusts, and other financial vehicles
Real estate and rental and leasing
Real estate

10,052

342,713

* 3,940

* 138

* 2,075

* 529

* 7,851

129,479

1,362,185

92,951,678

4,487,072

403,484

1,487,244

1,243,432

3,282,293

30,966,372

1,297,399

86,908,107

2,222,708

331,276

1,320,641

1,046,739

2,864,142

31,475,940

Lessors of real estate (including miniwarehouses and self
storage)
Offices of real estate agents, brokers, property managers, and
appraisers

61,383

3,187,678

404,233

6,004

97,000

273,194

88,115

390,642

981,747

59,125,445

1,215,464

253,861

907,787

358,928

1,841,579

25,940,821

Other activities related to real estate

254,269

24,594,985

603,010

71,412

315,854

414,618

934,448

5,144,476

63,275

5,977,504

2,261,356

72,171

164,765

192,427

412,788

-503,443

Automotive equipment rental and leasing

24,911

1,407,370

504,259

** 17,814

48,147

39,027

59,815

-109,858

Consumer electronics and appliances rental

* 347

* 47,003

* 22,505

**

0

* 2,943

* 3,577

* -1,951

**

**

**

**

**

**

**

**

** 1,479

** 139,310

** 13,301

** 434

** 23,825

** 359

** 47,557

** -434

Rental and leasing services

Formal wear and costume rental
Video tape and disc rental
Home health equipment rental
Recreational goods rental
All other consumer goods rental
General rental centers and other consumer goods rental
Commercial and industrial machinery and equipment rental
and leasing
Lessors of nonfinancial intangible assets (except copyrighted
works)
Professional, scientific, and technical services
Legal services

**

**

0

0

0

0

0

**

1,369

68,195

151,986

**

* 3,653

*4

* 2,077

-152,318

8,899

766,845

157,228

** 3,231

31,049

23,026

48,648

54,107

4,513

474,407

31,241

* 1,994

* 10,047

9,178

15,649

39,047

21,757

3,074,375

1,380,836

48,698

48,044

117,890

235,465

-332,037

1,511

66,067

* 3,009

* 37

* 1,839

* 4,265

* 5,362

-6,124

3,650,330
349,241

203,648,342
40,894,359

4,385,260
369,105

1,038,443
167,399

5,007,993
1,813,413

945,603
202,486

17,241,836
4,461,894

84,984,173
18,142,013

Offices of certified public accountants

35,239

4,466,006

112,418

15,571

233,372

76,677

707,897

1,753,455

Other accounting services

365,154

10,290,894

257,413

53,691

264,175

76,150

707,401

4,391,474

Architectural, engineering, and related services

291,771

17,525,213

626,807

146,763

310,671

78,647

1,830,698

5,596,835

Architectural services

111,893

7,048,920

292,524

86,570

160,344

36,519

853,797

1,513,492

Engineering services

105,520

7,275,221

266,481

51,561

126,582

32,127

569,924

2,732,772

Drafting, building inspections, and geophysical surveying

59,330

2,417,640

46,936

* 2,916

7,755

8,230

238,967

1,086,345

Surveying and mapping (except geophysical) services

10,692

576,533

13,491

* 5,532

* 10,854

* 1,100

128,924

216,553

Testing laboratories

4,335

206,899

* 7,375

* 183

* 5,136

* 671

* 39,085

47,673

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

16

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Table 1. Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Business Receipts, Selected Deductions, Payroll, and Net Income, by
Industrial Sectors, Tax Year 2018—Continued
[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Businesses with net income—continued
Industrial sector

Number
of returns

Rent paid
Depreciation on machinery
and
deduction [1,2]
equipment [1]

Business
receipts

(9)

(10)

Rent paid
on other
business
property [1]

Interest paid
deduction [1,3]

Net income

Payroll [1,4]

(11)

(12)

(13)

(14)

(15)

Truck transportation

582,576

76,446,928

4,106,000

1,352,961

597,616

409,422

3,668,282

14,287,841

(16)

Taxi, limousine service, and ridesharing service

742,960

22,722,241

324,000

1,191,450

182,000

55,438

69,713

6,176,837

Other transit and ground transportation

155,175

4,356,098

76,399

95,995

23,015

6,423

212,953

1,217,147

Pipeline transportation

* 2,551

* 546,215

**

**

**

* 11

* 7,248

* 42,191

5,897

448,208

** 42,906

** 21,357

** 18,926

28,825

* 60,252

71,961

Scenic and sightseeing transportation
Support activities for transportation (including motor vehicle
towing)

53,497

4,310,718

178,176

34,184

91,204

16,783

360,389

875,137

Couriers and messengers

281,639

7,181,825

34,993

84,756

63,294

41,931

177,809

2,083,459

Warehousing and storage facilities

8,646

736,539

21,044

23,313

53,288

3,911

38,919

211,623

247,227

10,871,351

310,153

109,054

176,507

28,259

416,569

4,921,497

Publishing industries (except internet)

35,327

1,561,480

6,563

1,447

32,828

* 477

35,116

696,253

Motion picture and sound recording
Broadcasting (except internet) and telecommunications and
internet service providers
Data processing, internet publishing and broadcasting, and web
search portals

82,818

3,416,945

169,276

33,498

74,500

14,911

155,719

1,541,378

43,350

2,573,591

91,598

72,147

37,781

9,409

101,266

919,054

Information

Finance and insurance

85,732

3,319,335

42,716

1,962

31,398

3,461

124,468

1,764,813

477,989

63,443,920

521,169

217,829

1,550,167

328,119

4,514,875

26,840,410

Credit intermediation and related activities

23,779

2,598,988

13,561

16,033

34,507

58,753

166,176

784,000

Securities, commodity contracts, and other financial investments

123,196

29,748,060

186,600

79,234

450,258

110,622

1,567,419

11,731,637

Investment bankers and securities dealers

6,407

1,737,269

3,894

* 3,158

12,106

1,192

83,569

692,742

Securities brokers

8,214

2,339,442

11,632

7,868

17,998

4,348

61,108

1,047,280

Commodity contracts brokers and dealers

4,850

1,133,404

** 2,017

* 27

3,969

** 220

** 10,613

213,618

* 21

* 75,660

**

0

0

**

**

* 9,563

Other financial investment activities (investment advice)

103,703

24,462,285

169,058

68,181

416,186

104,861

1,412,130

9,768,434

Insurance agents, brokers, and related activities

323,423

30,885,608

320,430

122,425

1,064,411

158,661

2,779,052

14,171,000

Insurance agencies and brokerages

234,944

23,103,561

242,583

111,080

910,647

136,538

2,367,071

10,105,269

Other insurance related activities and other financial vehicles

88,480

7,782,047

77,847

11,344

153,764

22,124

411,982

4,065,731

Funds, trusts, and other financial vehicles

7,590

211,263

* 578

* 138

* 991

* 83

* 2,228

153,773

917,226

79,545,504

1,684,661

284,322

1,069,448

519,660

2,233,050

36,881,443

886,290

76,004,854

1,181,121

251,516

1,003,453

455,947

2,052,206

36,066,858

Securities and commodity exchanges

Real estate and rental and leasing
Real estate
Lessors of real estate (including miniwarehouses and self
storage)
Offices of real estate agents, brokers, property managers, and
appraisers

31,388

2,372,477

136,767

3,389

78,149

101,981

51,520

809,827

706,277

54,005,036

829,877

204,203

684,694

180,772

1,371,354

28,303,071

Other activities related to real estate

148,625

19,627,341

214,477

43,923

240,610

173,194

629,332

6,953,960

30,510

3,484,273

500,784

32,769

64,156

63,469

176,325

800,078

Automotive equipment rental and leasing

11,520

850,386

131,444

* 6,683

* 22,873

15,465

* 27,116

201,271

Consumer electronics and appliances rental

* 343

* 33,555

* 2,514

* 3,627

0

* 2,004

* 3,577

* 6,929

**

**

0

0

0

**

**

**

** 181

** 24,774

0

0

0

** 359

** 10,947

** 843

Rental and leasing services

Formal wear and costume rental
Video tape and disc rental
Home health equipment rental
Recreational goods rental
All other consumer goods rental
General rental centers and other consumer goods rental
Commercial and industrial machinery and equipment rental
and leasing
Lessors of nonfinancial intangible assets (except copyrighted
works)
Professional, scientific, and technical services
Legal services

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

* 1,339

* 60,844

* 900

**

**

**

0

* 6,412

6,483

553,657

70,872

** 2,328

** 9,934

** 4,002

* 15,988

143,854

3,243

389,654

* 10,118

* 1,452

* 6,404

* 6,411

* 9,398

65,924

7,401

1,571,404

284,936

18,680

24,945

35,228

109,298

374,845

* 426

* 56,377

* 2,757

* 37

* 1,839

* 243

* 4,518

* 14,508

2,662,627
278,522

184,846,182
39,010,505

2,596,132
294,975

644,991
142,099

3,991,235
1,690,990

610,172
142,698

13,956,711
4,130,717

94,424,862
18,891,762

Offices of certified public accountants

27,767

4,167,476

88,177

15,568

211,669

72,246

630,770

1,794,045

Other accounting services

288,927

9,220,411

161,835

48,266

214,082

41,836

574,033

4,949,842

Architectural, engineering, and related services

208,660

15,808,287

366,182

100,519

228,513

46,625

1,559,126

6,777,345

Architectural services

73,464

6,253,133

194,686

47,139

107,378

24,743

737,500

2,040,502

Engineering services

80,793

6,574,480

125,861

45,546

102,565

18,559

456,408

3,264,677

Drafting, building inspections, and geophysical surveying

42,683

2,258,489

28,703

* 2,275

7,656

* 1,845

226,184

1,192,615

Surveying and mapping (except geophysical) services

9,552

526,558

* 9,591

* 5,376

* 7,781

* 807

* 100,934

217,062

* 2,168

* 195,628

* 7,341

* 183

* 3,132

* 671

* 38,100

* 62,489

Testing laboratories
Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

17

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Table 1. Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Business Receipts, Selected Deductions, Payroll, and Net Income, by
Industrial Sectors, Tax Year 2018—Continued
[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Businesses with and without net income—continued
Industrial sector

Number
of returns

(1)
Specialized design services
Computer systems design services

Business
receipts

(2)

261,904

Rent paid
Depreciation on machinery
and
deduction [1,2]
equipment [1]
(3)

10,456,589

(4)

349,741

46,306

Rent paid
on other
business
property [1]

Interest paid
deduction [1,3]

Payroll [1,4]

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

388,158

2,964,562

271,273

42,649

Net income
less deficit

297,644

13,327,182

217,680

59,118

187,229

42,652

1,342,562

5,905,029

2,049,378

106,688,100

2,452,096

549,594

1,927,860

426,342

7,803,226

46,230,805

Management, scientific, and technical consulting services

980,042

53,427,031

1,128,051

306,992

765,257

202,618

3,479,240

27,866,962

Scientific research and development services

55,940

1,646,616

79,806

4,325

33,585

5,518

117,524

530,965

Advertising and related services

141,768

9,449,217

145,947

47,607

274,896

40,990

560,074

2,907,915

Other professional, scientific, and technical services

Market research and public opinion polling

44,914

1,202,482

16,830

3,719

16,173

2,175

93,038

427,417

Other miscellaneous services

826,715

40,962,754

1,081,462

186,951

837,949

175,041

3,553,350

14,497,545

2,626,388

83,385,001

3,358,033

679,481

911,994

452,647

9,046,688

23,425,084

4,684

549,276

59,912

* 397

8,722

5,459

141,782

29,965

2,597,554

79,936,896

3,069,047

652,980

871,665

423,528

8,598,172

22,944,057

Administrative and support and waste management services
Management of companies and enterprises
Administrative and support services
Waste management and remediation services

24,150

2,898,828

229,074

26,105

31,606

23,660

306,734

451,062

837,403

12,640,322

354,149

85,193

832,181

90,340

866,028

3,582,252

Health care and social assistance

2,071,626

120,062,514

2,450,087

481,138

5,570,834

742,887

17,950,166

45,925,881

Ambulatory health care services

1,222,470

95,091,572

1,921,261

391,640

4,464,412

569,070

14,221,218

37,823,243

Offices of physicians (except mental health specialists)

194,481

28,715,522

444,154

121,421

1,096,347

82,989

3,910,095

13,367,993

Offices of physicians, mental health specialists

40,888

4,321,785

62,216

14,958

282,866

13,902

231,143

2,508,902

Offices of dentists

68,638

22,636,518

702,164

79,715

978,017

249,895

5,544,024

6,735,522

Offices of chiropractors

28,190

3,561,711

98,888

24,131

322,274

34,024

339,199

1,264,236

Offices of optometrists

18,835

3,651,690

88,658

9,284

223,010

26,537

733,518

912,267

Offices of mental health practitioners and social therapists

223,230

11,030,741

144,260

34,031

709,751

23,107

763,052

5,838,153

Offices of podiatrists
Outpatient care centers and other miscellaneous health
practitioners

3,601

876,348

4,626

* 2,277

75,838

3,677

137,199

325,297

225,950

8,991,107

219,912

51,667

574,319

106,990

619,745

3,211,066

Medical and diagnostic laboratories

23,619

1,413,127

28,924

757

49,824

5,062

166,398

426,550

Home health care services

359,621

8,115,266

83,995

50,091

129,693

17,209

1,598,231

2,738,823

Other ambulatory health care services (including ambulance
services, blood and organ banks)

35,418

1,777,755

43,464

3,308

22,473

5,678

178,614

494,433

Hospitals

5,228

926,305

23,102

* 2,706

58,988

4,398

252,430

201,627

Nursing and residential care facilities

83,735

5,514,495

148,958

33,988

293,420

93,187

1,562,754

440,820

Educational services

Social assistance
Arts, entertainment, and recreation
Performing arts, spectator sports, and related industries

760,193

18,530,142

356,766

52,803

754,014

76,232

1,913,764

7,460,191

1,723,755

51,768,247

2,340,577

378,741

1,807,678

370,470

2,953,980

12,755,928
12,232,877

1,541,522

39,167,655

* 1,550,174

** 261,929

* 902,572

* 161,522

* 1,548,478

Museums, historical sites, and similar institutions

8,517

282,924

3,043

**

8,787

728

4,049

43,816

Amusement, gambling, and recreation industries

173,717

12,317,668

787,360

116,811

896,319

208,220

1,401,453

479,235

585,688

72,833,003

2,679,447

574,164

4,693,264

1,059,836

13,515,269

2,836,874

92,440

8,193,194

975,000

41,828

436,072

556,582

903,084

-46,795
-183,870

Accommodation, food services, and drinking places
Accommodation
Travel accommodation (including hotels, motels, and bed and
breakfast inns)

52,835

6,037,526

801,190

* 23,702

292,672

453,552

812,129

RV (recreational vehicle) parks and recreational camps

18,294

1,277,658

127,402

5,402

9,057

82,890

56,596

42,107

Rooming and boarding houses

21,311

878,010

46,408

12,724

134,344

20,140

34,359

94,968

493,248

64,639,809

1,704,447

532,336

4,257,192

503,254

12,612,184

2,883,670

3,623,375

122,912,438

3,930,528

910,613

8,397,317

800,582

9,768,114

30,691,359

Restaurants (full & limited service) and drinking places
Other services
Auto repair and maintenance

405,031

28,569,572

1,291,258

186,359

1,360,551

342,809

3,459,826

2,898,015

Automotive mechanical and electrical repair and maintenance

221,337

13,582,326

604,993

88,515

727,817

173,109

1,430,048

1,409,395

Automotive body shops

88,892

8,073,250

220,051

41,994

266,495

50,392

1,066,549

1,101,052

Other auto repair and maintenance (including oil change,
lubrication, and car washes)

94,802

6,913,996

466,214

* 55,850

366,239

* 119,307

963,228

387,568

Miscellaneous repairs

431,077

19,444,854

661,781

123,031

527,795

128,134

1,806,155

3,900,338

2,531,706

70,740,160

1,912,319

581,786

6,410,656

326,872

4,468,872

21,994,805

255,561

4,157,852

65,170

19,437

98,316

2,767

33,261

1,898,201

562,328

6,211,944

174,193

70,160

98,388

18,907

39,265

2,122,609

Personal and laundry services
Religious, grantmaking, civic, professional and similar
organizations
Unclassified establishments
Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

18

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Table 1. Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Business Receipts, Selected Deductions, Payroll, and Net Income, by
Industrial Sectors, Tax Year 2018—Continued
[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Businesses with net income—continued
Industrial sector

Specialized design services
Computer systems design services

Number
of returns

Business
receipts

Rent paid
Depreciation on machinery
and
deduction [1,2]
equipment [1]

(9)

(10)

(11)

176,695

8,596,657

115,364

(12)
22,185

Rent paid
on other
business
property [1]

Interest paid
deduction [1,3]

Payroll [1,4]

(13)

(14)

(15)

(16)

222,278

3,647,693

153,992

21,515

Net income

211,717

12,287,689

143,371

46,368

128,838

32,498

957,251

6,649,348

1,470,339

95,755,157

1,426,227

269,986

1,363,151

252,755

5,882,536

51,714,827

Management, scientific, and technical consulting services

711,219

49,014,706

632,638

101,020

513,654

111,443

2,543,829

30,456,538

Scientific research and development services

39,658

1,398,830

36,491

2,397

27,059

* 814

58,460

846,973

Advertising and related services

109,679

8,644,174

112,886

23,187

214,274

31,091

473,420

3,221,228

Other professional, scientific, and technical services

Market research and public opinion polling

31,214

1,039,948

3,210

* 3,711

12,619

1,961

87,703

511,594

Other miscellaneous services

578,568

35,657,500

641,002

139,671

595,546

107,446

2,719,125

16,678,493

2,046,092

73,890,601

2,049,197

379,610

648,682

250,098

6,924,853

28,859,309

2,654

380,378

14,001

* 125

3,663

* 2,791

* 108,587

96,236

2,024,357

71,020,140

1,853,025

366,624

620,980

231,183

6,586,436

28,217,272

Administrative and support and waste management services
Management of companies and enterprises
Administrative and support services
Waste management and remediation services

19,080

2,490,083

182,171

12,860

24,038

16,123

229,830

545,801

619,075

10,694,320

184,948

56,623

473,725

29,077

593,220

5,253,335

Health care and social assistance

1,650,349

108,858,974

1,800,263

349,173

4,660,210

475,633

15,203,487

50,165,993

Ambulatory health care services

945,268

87,776,499

1,466,598

290,965

3,820,075

406,917

12,556,829

40,741,769

Offices of physicians (except mental health specialists)

156,901

26,809,211

331,581

83,430

983,568

65,068

3,374,358

13,906,367

Offices of physicians, mental health specialists

32,869

4,050,145

45,643

14,953

241,917

12,527

180,408

2,575,710

Offices of dentists

54,017

21,554,902

585,323

77,524

874,793

203,633

5,209,762

7,019,016

Offices of chiropractors

21,048

3,420,305

96,277

24,054

284,567

22,103

323,804

1,329,053

Offices of optometrists

15,654

3,136,737

71,629

9,047

200,117

26,156

616,858

927,329

Offices of mental health practitioners and social therapists

183,790

10,492,666

98,553

32,033

642,490

21,015

677,237

6,106,654

Offices of podiatrists
Outpatient care centers and other miscellaneous health
practitioners

3,090

828,837

4,498

* 2,274

74,980

3,605

124,905

328,619

160,473

7,537,199

146,043

24,590

381,621

33,202

438,372

3,899,774

Medical and diagnostic laboratories

19,931

1,073,219

7,053

* 514

30,694

4,182

110,008

464,861

Home health care services

273,290

7,328,755

52,303

19,825

84,043

10,797

1,353,186

3,555,588

Other ambulatory health care services (including ambulance
services, blood and organ banks)

24,207

1,544,524

27,696

2,723

21,284

4,628

147,931

628,796

Hospitals

3,561

809,348

16,502

* 1,669

52,739

* 3,509

224,459

278,124

Nursing and residential care facilities

59,438

3,775,812

85,318

21,667

153,218

27,040

924,413

887,999

Educational services

Social assistance
Arts, entertainment, and recreation
Performing arts, spectator sports, and related industries

642,082

16,497,315

231,846

34,872

634,179

38,166

1,497,786

8,258,101

1,167,765

41,547,104

784,854

205,301

1,124,727

148,596

1,672,302

18,222,313
16,447,139

1,059,729

33,024,853

** 544,712

156,242

** 570,482

** 95,527

** 935,607

Museums, historical sites, and similar institutions

6,494

268,247

**

0

**

**

**

57,839

Amusement, gambling, and recreation industries

101,541

8,254,004

240,142

49,059

554,245

53,070

736,695

1,717,334

365,540

53,482,163

1,020,600

368,651

3,197,290

441,948

9,037,133

6,865,674

60,867

5,290,841

269,287

29,789

* 296,576

196,323

472,428

912,370

Travel accommodation (including hotels, motels, and bed and
breakfast inns)

34,897

3,687,301

212,195

* 12,401

194,075

163,459

398,498

589,269

RV (recreational vehicle) parks and recreational camps

10,549

889,136

29,385

5,343

5,374

18,871

48,608

163,714

Accommodation, food services, and drinking places
Accommodation

Rooming and boarding houses

15,422

714,404

27,707

12,045

97,126

13,992

25,321

159,387

Restaurants (full & limited service) and drinking places

304,673

48,191,322

751,313

338,863

2,900,714

245,625

8,564,705

5,953,304
38,715,518

Other services

2,756,669

108,487,797

2,203,810

592,058

6,676,255

452,354

7,779,103

Auto repair and maintenance

268,507

23,766,816

717,118

88,637

1,055,548

230,821

2,654,597

4,606,729

Automotive mechanical and electrical repair and maintenance

146,958

11,567,496

345,731

43,996

595,943

120,730

1,176,084

2,280,914

Automotive body shops

62,872

6,845,586

151,219

33,900

206,791

32,695

728,650

1,415,716

Other auto repair and maintenance (including oil change,
lubrication, and car washes)

58,678

5,353,734

220,168

* 10,741

252,814

* 77,395

* 749,863

910,099

Miscellaneous repairs

323,682

17,409,389

427,073

88,600

441,645

73,468

1,612,919

4,892,883

1,968,059

63,511,011

1,020,487

400,357

5,103,629

146,434

3,490,041

26,933,361

196,420

3,800,581

39,132

14,464

75,434

1,631

21,547

2,282,545

450,837

5,409,775

51,753

36,188

32,581

2,110

14,585

3,509,773

Personal and laundry services
Religious, grantmaking, civic, professional and similar
organizations
Unclassified establishments

* Estimate should be used with caution because of the small number of sample returns on which it is based.
** Data combined to prevent disclosure of taxpayer information.
[1] Excludes amounts reported on Schedule C-EZ filed by certain small businesses not required to itemize their business deductions. Therefore, totals shown may be slightly understated.
[2] Includes depreciation claimed on Expenses for Business Use of Your Home (Form 8829).
[3] Interest paid is the sum of mortgage interest and other interest paid on business indebtedness.
[4] Payroll is the sum of salaries and wages plus the cost of labor reported as part of cost of sales and operations.
NOTE: Detail may not add to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: IRS, Statistics of Income Division, Sole Proprietorship Returns 2018, September 2020.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

19

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Table 2. Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Income Statements, by Industrial Sectors, Tax Year 2018
[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Agriculture, forestry, hunting, and fishing

Net income status, item

All
nonfarm
industries

(1)

Total

Animal
production
(including
breeding
of cats and
dogs)

Forestry
and logging
(including forest
nurseries,
timber tracts)

Fishing,
hunting,
and trapping

Support
activities
for
agriculture
and forestry

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

BUSINESSES WITH AND WITHOUT NET INCOME
Number of returns [1]
Business receipts, total [1,2]
Income from sales and operations [1]

27,117,163

320,437

46,206

49,119

70,916

154,196

1,589,748,596

23,139,333

1,751,008

6,129,050

2,763,520

12,495,754
12,307,053

1,569,615,542

22,737,927

1,642,934

6,085,979

2,701,962

Other business income (loss) [1]

20,133,054

401,406

108,074

43,071

61,559

188,702

Business deductions, total [1,2]

1,242,400,412

21,704,729

2,184,739

5,521,545

2,561,032

11,437,413

Cost of sales and operations, total

441,730,396

8,316,658

542,847

1,813,569

241,428

5,718,814

Inventory, beginning of year

44,130,575

499,227

38,622

173,365

31,356

255,884

Cost of labor

41,380,058

502,323

* 98,383

192,955

30,837

180,149

Purchases

253,859,367

5,194,957

274,453

795,047

102,481

4,022,975

Materials and supplies

70,280,304

467,904

52,093

47,826

48,866

319,120

Other costs

76,215,122

2,215,210

128,562

770,561

63,139

1,252,948
312,261

44,135,029

562,963

49,267

166,185

* 35,250

Advertising expenses

Inventory, end of year

17,754,464

100,786

20,611

8,445

30,758

40,971

Car and truck expenses

105,596,494

1,165,198

145,663

393,662

182,785

443,088

Commissions

18,680,616

146,035

64,245

32,872

4,753

44,164

Contract labor

69,258,312

1,083,041

34,646

435,740

174,253

438,402

Depletion
Depreciation

684,930

2,882

* 976

** 1,773

**

* 134

50,776,575

2,328,589

287,506

649,110

585,850

806,124

Employee benefit programs

3,086,070

15,643

2,356

3,384

708

9,195

Insurance

22,279,295

489,001

28,878

186,574

57,593

215,957

Legal and professional services

14,945,415

151,667

17,496

24,827

33,346

75,998

Meals deducted

11,343,749

86,413

8,848

3,446

40,668

33,451

Mortgage interest

3,547,847

88,142

7,740

7,621

12,693

60,087

Other interest paid on business indebtedness

6,987,896

181,709

11,667

62,978

23,360

83,704

Office expenses

14,775,395

58,729

7,477

9,090

10,515

31,647

Pension and profit-sharing plans

1,245,088

4,247

* 33

** 1,323

**

2,892

Rent paid on machinery and equipment

11,452,287

165,760

1,961

94,372

5,860

63,567

Rent paid on other business property

42,320,734

324,226

28,478

24,538

89,499

181,711

Repairs

21,899,636

811,399

44,719

284,599

160,815

321,267

Supplies

46,931,296

644,214

94,661

98,113

208,050

243,390

Salaries and wages

97,885,484

1,464,405

85,076

303,822

40,955

1,034,552

Taxes paid

21,076,953

299,560

24,886

70,091

46,265

158,319

Travel

19,045,842

158,404

32,771

9,819

28,589

87,225

Utilities

34,220,865

325,656

43,666

63,864

57,301

160,825

Other business expenses

149,689,186

3,170,899

633,517

924,599

493,924

1,118,859

Home office business deductions, total

10,568,338

75,709

10,319

6,362

20,759

38,268

348,509,654

1,459,706

-434,268

606,963

207,340

1,079,671

Net income [1,2]

429,990,931

3,620,110

255,825

859,430

695,052

1,809,803

Deficit [2]

81,481,276

2,160,404

690,094

252,467

487,712

730,132

64,790,476

773,239

97,862

138,993

222,797

313,587

Net income less deficit [1,2]

Qualified business deduction
Returns with Schedule C-EZ:
Number of returns

5,350,709

58,712

* 5,089

* 6,196

11,750

35,676

Business receipts

44,963,836

363,345

* 49,373

* 16,982

57,716

239,274

Business deductions

4,617,249

45,759

* 3,697

* 6,955

10,303

24,805

Net income

40,346,588

317,586

* 45,676

* 10,028

47,413

214,469

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

20

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Table 2. Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Income Statements, by Industrial Sectors, Tax Year 2018—Continued
[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]
Mining

Construction

Utilities

Total

Oil
and
gas extraction

Other
mining

Support
activities for
mining

Total

Total

Construction
of
buildings

Heavy and
civil
engineering
construction

Specialty
trade
contractors

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)

(11)

(12)

(13)

(14)

(15)

Net income status, item

BUSINESSES WITH AND WITHOUT NET INCOME
Number of returns [1]
Business receipts, total [1,2]
Income from sales and operations [1]

104,965

77,367

6,634

20,964

12,472

2,901,667

608,117

58,382

2,235,168

11,117,876

6,276,620

1,463,769

3,377,487

594,702

269,860,103

77,636,683

9,166,120

183,057,300
181,878,655

10,710,225

5,968,447

1,404,045

3,337,734

591,788

268,081,319

77,109,419

9,093,245

Other business income (loss) [1]

407,650

308,173

59,724

39,753

2,914

1,778,784

527,264

72,875

1,178,645

Business deductions, total [1,2]

9,764,726

5,728,561

1,387,692

2,648,473

539,378

225,606,070

67,551,170

7,960,484

150,094,416

Cost of sales and operations, total

1,969,622

1,067,019

305,802

596,801

17,486

105,472,101

39,433,221

4,176,651

61,862,229

Inventory, beginning of year

123,385

61,487

18,246

43,653

* 4,887

5,438,450

3,077,192

1,007,287

1,353,971

Cost of labor

178,243

60,082

* 15,279

102,882

* 991

19,759,905

5,839,952

685,819

13,234,134

Purchases

509,926

78,236

232,980

198,710

* 11,463

28,018,206

9,675,046

841,516

17,501,643

Materials and supplies

109,518

28,905

* 11,125

69,488

* 308

37,637,532

14,537,653

856,421

22,243,457

1,180,276

894,293

47,198

238,786

* 4,069

19,709,379

9,115,813

1,802,757

8,790,809

131,727

55,983

19,026

56,717

* 4,233

5,091,371

2,812,436

1,017,149

1,261,785

Advertising expenses

24,527

7,576

1,107

15,845

676

1,334,677

264,929

44,314

1,025,433

Car and truck expenses

286,497

127,853

23,301

135,343

79,940

18,319,608

3,966,747

385,081

13,967,780

Commissions

21,218

16,901

* 952

3,364

* 737

1,034,949

277,421

43,149

714,379

Contract labor

368,740

170,982

50,053

147,705

102,057

26,384,816

6,423,575

442,627

19,518,615

Other costs
Inventory, end of year

Depletion

562,328

441,097

108,680

12,551

* 1,058

14,667

* 106

* 387

14,174

Depreciation

1,189,519

546,433

302,512

340,574

110,016

8,167,058

1,923,882

552,635

5,690,541

Employee benefit programs

39,079

11,589

8,253

19,238

* 532

298,973

68,328

21,805

208,840

Insurance

159,899

61,868

14,038

83,994

11,000

4,706,351

1,022,710

188,562

3,495,079

Legal and professional services

150,537

107,119

7,115

36,303

6,771

1,319,008

402,657

58,046

858,304

Meals deducted

76,073

19,612

5,763

50,698

961

1,166,492

281,740

26,131

858,621

Mortgage interest

21,786

15,625

* 3,874

2,287

18,470

329,264

124,863

33,640

170,760

Other interest paid on business indebtedness

153,970

67,737

56,035

30,198

6,273

821,404

270,832

47,542

503,030

Office expenses

53,614

24,977

4,343

24,294

2,413

1,228,582

273,635

41,747

913,200

Pension and profit-sharing plans

15,204

4,916

* 9,465

* 823

* 104

54,375

7,720

13,509

33,145

Rent paid on machinery and equipment

79,249

21,472

13,568

44,209

* 382

1,693,183

320,292

111,067

1,261,824

Rent paid on other business property

86,168

42,563

15,369

28,236

3,030

1,978,255

422,775

50,651

1,504,828

Repairs

242,398

70,010

57,115

115,273

28,937

2,654,218

551,593

145,895

1,956,731

Supplies

153,417

31,387

29,668

92,361

28,143

12,430,017

2,745,461

258,758

9,425,798

Salaries and wages

652,472

252,564

94,707

305,201

7,453

11,886,889

2,348,925

509,506

9,028,458

Taxes paid

275,795

192,581

24,301

58,913

8,192

2,473,607

542,610

103,488

1,827,508

Travel

98,476

61,061

3,858

33,557

3,984

1,469,784

312,338

66,976

1,090,470

Utilities

135,409

71,758

11,018

52,633

18,142

3,520,402

757,168

93,136

2,670,097

2,900,674

2,263,084

235,649

401,940

81,048

15,317,724

4,468,072

521,672

10,327,980

36,810

21,541

* 656

14,614

* 1,516

1,101,610

246,655

11,282

843,673

1,395,205

570,277

85,531

739,398

55,794

44,304,538

10,109,819

1,252,169

32,942,550

Net income [1,2]

2,576,863

1,475,092

170,816

930,956

205,337

50,548,580

11,686,869

1,613,718

37,247,993

Deficit [2]

1,181,658

904,815

85,285

191,558

149,543

6,244,043

1,577,051

361,549

4,305,443

1,160,359

930,858

74,286

155,216

44,433

5,658,951

1,370,015

381,177

3,907,759

Other business expenses
Home office business deductions, total
Net income less deficit [1,2]

Qualified business deduction
Returns with Schedule C-EZ:
Number of returns

12,558

9,797

* 1,377

1,384

* 2,193

455,247

82,885

7,468

364,894

Business receipts

38,897

19,679

* 4,543

14,675

* 11,364

4,881,265

1,027,036

114,422

3,739,807

Business deductions

11,245

9,236

* 490

* 1,519

* 58

428,058

92,914

* 12,226

322,918

Net income

27,653

10,443

* 4,053

13,156

* 11,306

4,453,207

934,122

102,196

3,416,889

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

21

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Table 2. Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Income Statements, by Industrial Sectors, Tax Year 2018—Continued
[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Manufacturing

Total

Food
manufacturing

Textile
and textile
product mills

Apparel

Leather
and
allied
products

Wood
products

Paper
products

Printing
and related
support
activities

(16)

(17)

(18)

(19)

(20)

(21)

(22)

(23)

Net income status, item

BUSINESSES WITH AND WITHOUT NET INCOME
Number of returns [1]
Business receipts, total [1,2]
Income from sales and operations [1]

354,185

51,926

12,499

14,301

7,540

28,148

* 3,040

22,905

33,967,257

5,955,668

583,918

851,324

257,364

2,839,173

142,667

1,918,868
1,894,468

33,631,968

5,846,057

582,910

848,382

257,178

** 2,974,245

**

Other business income (loss) [1]

335,289

109,611

* 1,009

* 2,942

* 187

** 7,595

**

24,400

Business deductions, total [1,2]

30,449,608

5,854,165

553,884

909,526

198,481

2,600,940

* 125,445

1,649,098

Cost of sales and operations, total

15,832,881

3,236,533

246,462

322,214

27,749

** 1,854,295

**

798,830

Inventory, beginning of year

2,358,573

642,996

18,507

115,960

* 41,486

** 169,432

**

52,440

Cost of labor

1,698,777

169,881

* 11,857

** 24,841

**

** 304,677

**

* 32,857

Purchases

9,458,083

2,526,344

198,281

204,851

* 17,990

** 956,170

**

350,593

Materials and supplies

2,854,267

310,555

* 16,348

48,035

* 8,787

** 348,127

**

338,482

Other costs

1,852,596

222,665

* 22,351

** 60,616

**

** 220,152

**

61,592

Inventory, end of year

2,389,414

635,906

20,882

131,203

* 41,399

** 144,263

**

* 37,135

Advertising expenses

311,119

65,063

8,871

30,709

* 6,406

** 8,148

**

18,626

Car and truck expenses

1,086,081

150,884

22,572

49,621

* 4,319

** 45,682

**

52,608

Commissions

259,761

18,015

* 2,176

** 10,450

**

** 13,197

**

1,674

Contract labor

742,499

86,739

* 11,805

** 40,108

**

** 29,782

**

15,536

Depletion
Depreciation

2,250

* 866

0

0

0

** 76

**

0

1,314,510

242,012

17,117

24,934

* 2,072

** 129,409

**

39,705

Employee benefit programs

97,521

13,854

* 340

** 1,151

**

** 12,273

**

5,603

Insurance

401,985

67,899

5,009

3,503

* 1,915

** 31,674

**

18,829

Legal and professional services

272,142

48,421

6,202

11,628

* 1,208

** 15,449

**

21,415

Meals deducted

119,339

10,394

3,846

3,808

* 1,215

** 3,054

**

25,814

Mortgage interest

78,908

19,861

* 3,816

** 1,214

**

** 5,836

**

0

Other interest paid on business indebtedness

154,907

35,998

* 6,869

** 5,465

**

** 12,397

**

16,315

Office expenses

282,337

29,512

3,217

51,627

* 552

** 19,766

**

18,365

Pension and profit-sharing plans

15,558

1,194

* 341

** 64

**

** 850

**

* 934

Rent paid on machinery and equipment

181,242

25,728

* 3,386

** 473

**

** 13,894

**

* 16,089

Rent paid on other business property

80,124

1,067,629

228,442

* 11,387

48,266

* 5,322

** 44,717

**

Repairs

441,036

86,681

2,255

6,748

* 189

** 58,547

**

24,915

Supplies

1,087,017

110,960

9,590

22,824

* 123,112

** 41,346

**

34,485

Salaries and wages

2,653,500

575,882

* 42,193

72,559

* 4,474

** 173,056

**

135,384

Taxes paid

536,020

125,111

12,491

13,312

* 368

** 36,034

**

30,733

Travel

304,728

37,068

7,468

27,937

* 1,646

** 7,954

**

23,955

Utilities

673,320

122,307

17,572

24,650

9,703

** 48,093

**

56,178

2,317,418

505,339

89,259

125,684

3,927

** 112,140

**

167,869

178,735

7,022

* 19,389

* 11,774

* 2,127

** 3,667

**

43,687

3,622,232

102,189

30,034

-58,202

58,883

243,244

* 17,221

272,739

Net income [1,2]

5,601,108

648,650

94,892

93,465

72,695

** 335,266

**

306,162

Deficit [2]

1,978,876

546,461

64,857

151,667

* 13,812

** 74,800

**

33,423

1,196,208

199,676

14,333

27,412

* 12,948

38,215

* 2,177

65,777

Other business expenses
Home office business deductions, total
Net income less deficit [1,2]

Qualified business deduction
Returns with Schedule C-EZ:
Number of returns

58,505

9,344

**

** 2,025

* 2,106

** 7,097

**

* 2,335

Business receipts

504,075

81,078

**

** 7,032

* 18,792

** 95,097

**

* 12,017

Business deductions

37,166

* 2,382

**

** 256

* 980

** 5,049

**

* 1,425

Net income

466,909

78,696

**

** 6,776

* 17,812

** 90,048

**

* 10,593

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

22

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Table 2. Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Income Statements, by Industrial Sectors, Tax Year 2018—Continued
[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Manufacturing—continued

Net income status, item

Petroleum
and coal
products

Chemical
manufacturing

Plastic and
rubber
products

Nonmetallic
mineral
products

Primary
metal
industries

Fabricated
metal
products

Machinery

Computer and
electronic
products

(24)

(25)

(26)

(27)

(28)

(29)

(30)

(31)

BUSINESSES WITH AND WITHOUT NET INCOME
Number of returns [1]

2,661

22,573

5,699

13,147

5,734

24,796

23,997

7,521

Business receipts, total [1,2]

47,389

1,950,854

793,690

895,904

471,152

4,340,654

1,839,171

1,096,720

Income from sales and operations [1]

**

** 1,993,876

666,922

896,324

471,069

4,318,883

1,827,004

1,095,057

Other business income (loss) [1]

**

** 4,366

126,768

* -420

* 83

21,771

12,168

* 1,663

Business deductions, total [1,2]

69,825

1,690,725

672,467

844,032

391,035

3,790,610

1,550,036

937,663
632,595

Cost of sales and operations, total

* 9,364

955,638

250,716

430,695

* 248,985

2,018,618

689,997

Inventory, beginning of year

0

90,549

17,878

29,569

* 20,938

153,103

140,509

106,064

Cost of labor

0

* 38,330

* 50,628

* 40,985

* 42,334

260,010

127,033

* 89,427

Purchases

**

** 778,107

30,922

165,937

* 145,435

1,032,387

422,139

430,312

Materials and supplies

**

** 90,312

123,640

68,104

* 15,876

415,717

105,766

* 35,900

* 6,445

78,095

37,629

176,541

* 44,184

351,498

40,021

65,351

**

** 116,835

9,981

50,440

* 19,781

194,096

145,471

94,459

Other costs
Inventory, end of year
Advertising expenses

**

** 19,255

4,469

9,145

* 4,038

11,134

11,547

6,602

Car and truck expenses

**

** 106,868

3,757

34,257

* 14,163

71,683

55,787

5,304

Commissions

0

12,342

* 1,216

* 51,168

**

** 46,128

12,440

* 28,899

Contract labor

**

** 26,940

41,433

28,605

0

87,282

83,590

* 15,841

Depletion

**

** 1,307

0

0

0

**

0

0

* 6,022

73,522

39,270

46,132

* 9,494

273,397

83,442

16,154
* 2,104

Depreciation
Employee benefit programs

0

3,495

1,341

8,654

* 1,562

13,155

8,680

Insurance

**

** 28,285

5,502

11,811

* 8,624

60,993

17,137

4,642

* 414

17,701

12,374

4,079

3,141

18,833

12,761

10,228

Meals deducted

**

** 13,562

262

1,453

* 327

11,709

4,172

1,426

Mortgage interest

0

* 3,378

* 1,014

* 6,875

**

** 10,375

3,518

**

Other interest paid on business indebtedness

0

6,762

1,470

5,016

* 1,100

21,388

6,530

* 2,277

Office expenses

**

** 39,621

7,318

5,318

* 5,451

24,323

12,061

4,976

Pension and profit-sharing plans

0

* 1,154

* 535

* 1,324

**

** 1,941

* 274

* 912

Rent paid on machinery and equipment

**

** 35,712

* 2,889

9,581

**

** 7,576

6,697

**

Rent paid on other business property

**

** 56,948

15,223

5,985

* 11,206

74,842

64,386

43,316

Repairs

**

** 32,350

14,852

19,303

* 3,792

49,233

30,093

5,473

Supplies

**

** 41,628

118,391

9,650

* 2,610

141,188

77,779

53,080

Legal and professional services

Salaries and wages

**

** 88,642

78,071

50,157

* 23,155

444,757

186,406

55,985

* 597

13,103

22,353

19,186

* 3,006

69,317

27,538

5,838

Travel

**

** 12,078

1,796

11,485

* 8,504

18,886

13,710

6,432

Utilities

* 43

33,429

14,581

19,941

11,344

75,774

41,143

7,214

18,708

86,814

23,894

52,395

14,124

247,467

92,558

21,874

0

9,462

* 8,802

0

**

** 3,980

* 2,180

* 3,530

-22,436

260,129

123,667

51,872

81,584

552,457

289,137

159,058

2,526

432,966

156,237

122,775

81,725

662,217

358,584

251,530

* 24,962

172,837

32,570

70,903

**

** 109,901

69,448

92,472

12,621

70,204

48,770

20,436

* 11,502

117,025

63,311

53,350

Taxes paid

Other business expenses
Home office business deductions, total
Net income less deficit [1,2]
Net income [1,2]
Deficit [2]
Qualified business deduction
Returns with Schedule C-EZ:
Number of returns

* 1,004

* 5,107

* 2,002

* 2,310

**

** 3,671

* 5,062

**

Business receipts

* 1,360

* 39,352

* 9,471

* 16,172

**

** 32,501

* 18,433

**

Business deductions
Net income

* 31

* 5,378

* 937

* 1,816

**

** 3,033

* 5,611

**

* 1,329

* 33,974

* 8,534

* 14,356

**

** 29,467

* 12,822

**

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

23

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Table 2. Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Income Statements, by Industrial Sectors, Tax Year 2018—Continued
[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Manufacturing—continued

Net income status, item

Electrical
equipment,
appliances,
and
components

(32)

Wholesale trade (merchant wholesalers)

Transportation
equipment

Furniture
and related
products

Miscellaneous
manufacturing

Total

(33)

(34)

(35)

(36)

Durable
Nondurable
goods,
goods,
including
including food,
machinery,
fiber,
wood, metals,
chemicals,
etc.
etc.
(37)

(38)

Wholesale
electronic
markets
and agents
and
brokers
(39)

BUSINESSES WITH AND WITHOUT NET INCOME
Number of returns [1]
Business receipts, total [1,2]
Income from sales and operations [1]

10,857

11,137

21,548

64,156

349,685

158,053

113,463

78,168

1,005,913

604,798

2,223,907

6,148,122

53,250,491

24,271,882

22,267,275

6,711,334
6,681,377

1,002,975

585,665

2,220,999

6,149,954

52,772,809

23,980,459

22,110,972

Other business income (loss) [1]

* 2,937

19,133

2,908

-1,832

477,682

291,422

156,303

29,957

Business deductions, total [1,2]

910,259

606,720

1,693,734

5,400,963

48,921,618

22,339,147

21,075,565

5,506,906

Cost of sales and operations, total

478,119

172,071

684,372

2,775,629

33,926,361

15,783,085

14,736,762

3,406,514

Inventory, beginning of year

* 65,505

65,327

90,162

538,149

3,789,901

2,366,999

1,200,015

222,887

Cost of labor

* 127,897

* 30,353

102,024

245,645

629,161

450,374

71,982

* 106,804

Purchases

152,265

78,654

277,781

1,689,915

28,354,721

12,726,193

12,892,004

2,736,525

Materials and supplies

* 99,552

* 35,214

280,459

513,395

2,188,378

1,342,514

617,095

228,769

Other costs

* 114,124

* 17,857

29,431

304,044

2,979,705

1,318,567

1,340,964

320,174

81,224

* 55,335

95,485

515,518

4,015,505

2,421,562

1,385,299

208,644

Inventory, end of year
Advertising expenses

8,777

8,691

22,104

67,535

462,734

237,836

158,227

66,671

Car and truck expenses

43,167

89,814

126,839

208,756

1,463,372

640,385

465,084

357,903

Commissions

* 11,780

* 2,538

5,186

42,552

464,278

254,981

109,206

100,091

Contract labor

* 7,114

* 43,485

154,965

69,274

707,355

249,459

241,611

216,284

0

0

0

0

793

* 650

* 77

* 66

Depreciation

23,211

40,227

47,462

200,927

938,491

545,269

313,789

79,433

Employee benefit programs

* 5,193

* 1,492

* 4,817

13,808

63,428

27,597

26,869

8,962

Insurance

18,837

21,945

32,817

62,564

331,041

164,453

136,022

30,565

Legal and professional services

11,998

4,384

17,395

54,511

457,951

125,634

281,728

50,590

Meals deducted

3,938

4,271

4,136

25,953

167,606

74,224

66,167

27,215

Mortgage interest

** 2,717

* 2,253

* 2,109

15,941

44,257

11,263

21,245

11,750

Other interest paid on business indebtedness

* 6,457

* 2,662

6,064

18,136

186,814

87,278

80,124

19,413

Office expenses

10,698

3,958

10,494

35,079

315,824

146,504

117,268

52,052

* 930

**

** 295

4,810

21,025

5,428

11,755

3,842

Rent paid on machinery and equipment

** 2,859

* 3,382

* 18,186

34,791

205,826

118,389

54,700

32,737

Rent paid on other business property

Depletion

Pension and profit-sharing plans

* 64,056

6,031

110,954

196,425

831,639

454,207

287,063

90,368

Repairs

3,260

16,002

17,076

70,268

369,049

190,806

164,596

13,647

Supplies

46,996

28,120

103,566

121,692

901,029

540,851

302,785

57,393

Salaries and wages

73,969

25,898

166,720

456,194

2,009,077

838,430

920,797

249,850

Taxes paid

31,093

8,700

17,934

99,306

383,274

174,006

164,510

44,759

Travel

3,708

21,144

4,264

96,692

533,710

237,843

212,035

83,832

Utilities

25,892

12,228

46,265

106,965

541,556

263,313

202,115

76,127

Other business expenses

27,400

81,860

81,182

564,926

3,412,628

1,091,911

1,940,392

380,324

* 114

* 4,016

* 3,226

55,759

144,087

68,077

46,252

29,757

107,450

-2,067

530,173

825,100

4,353,428

1,930,497

1,195,695

1,227,235

Net income [1,2]

126,281

91,648

629,534

1,133,956

6,212,858

2,777,030

1,971,555

1,464,274

Deficit [2]

18,831

93,715

99,361

308,857

1,859,431

846,532

775,859

237,039

20,437

37,872

63,188

316,954

1,338,557

612,395

463,733

262,429

Number of returns

** 2,284

**

** 3,011

11,147

45,346

15,901

15,620

13,825

Business receipts

** 28,450

**

** 27,592

116,727

427,437

128,334

178,378

120,725

** 940

**

** 6,859

* 2,469

38,411

7,266

* 14,385

16,760

** 27,511

**

** 20,734

114,258

389,026

121,068

163,993

103,966

Home office business deductions, total
Net income less deficit [1,2]

Qualified business deduction
Returns with Schedule C-EZ:

Business deductions
Net income
Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

24

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Table 2. Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Income Statements, by Industrial Sectors, Tax Year 2018—Continued
[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Retail trade

Total

Motor
vehicle and
parts
dealers

Furniture
and home
furnishing
stores

(40)

(41)

(42)

Net income status, item

Building
Electronic
material and
stores
garden
and household
equipment and
appliance
supplies
stores
dealers
(43)

(44)

Food and
beverage
stores

Health and
personal care
stores

Gasoline
stations

(45)

(46)

(47)

BUSINESSES WITH AND WITHOUT NET INCOME
Number of returns [1]
Business receipts, total [1,2]
Income from sales and operations [1]

2,401,769

147,938

37,749

11,425

34,348

84,753

159,745

8,599

187,588,890

39,240,766

4,233,446

3,824,552

7,164,429

25,487,946

8,697,086

14,460,833
14,576,693

186,244,320

38,780,651

4,216,069

3,821,068

7,100,199

25,173,526

8,606,341

Other business income (loss) [1]

1,344,570

460,115

17,377

3,484

64,230

314,420

90,746

-115,860

Business deductions, total [1,2]

176,712,177

38,352,226

3,739,085

3,544,299

6,408,157

24,682,899

8,016,374

14,208,002

Cost of sales and operations, total

116,283,916

30,765,688

2,303,812

2,472,701

4,258,369

17,758,445

5,107,817

11,913,297

Inventory, beginning of year

22,108,912

6,198,809

596,122

181,529

726,436

1,884,811

534,906

285,849

Cost of labor

1,881,749

544,970

132,531

* 78,727

158,071

121,583

72,182

45,512

Purchases

103,486,231

28,310,285

1,441,147

1,928,262

3,674,566

16,976,108

4,443,225

10,817,082

Materials and supplies

6,194,284

1,055,583

551,081

* 253,956

310,282

469,132

333,466

719,066

Other costs

5,194,555

1,085,264

154,224

201,702

156,611

234,568

190,273

334,290

Inventory, end of year

22,581,814

6,429,223

571,293

171,475

767,597

1,927,757

466,236

288,502

Advertising expenses

2,556,740

315,215

84,777

27,288

70,834

111,547

158,497

18,074

Car and truck expenses

5,308,893

489,017

129,931

57,766

102,818

223,177

246,496

21,800

Commissions

1,715,282

195,839

108,984

43,596

15,960

85,952

14,795

7,049

Contract labor

2,055,184

401,841

55,241

61,847

121,172

106,029

89,402

25,687

Depletion
Depreciation
Employee benefit programs

28,600

*6

**

0

0

** 86

0

* 292

3,102,076

502,523

46,464

41,857

192,260

391,651

84,207

195,809

189,870

45,708

7,728

2,252

11,924

20,200

14,379

7,414

Insurance

1,383,049

271,730

32,992

33,478

76,591

190,327

54,071

65,969

Legal and professional services

36,364

1,037,491

118,039

31,200

13,242

25,485

83,001

59,171

Meals deducted

557,018

54,862

26,544

5,974

13,089

25,352

21,424

2,041

Mortgage interest

372,204

85,481

15,856

* 1,417

14,561

28,681

8,723

57,976

Other interest paid on business indebtedness

737,406

193,156

10,601

3,172

38,426

66,760

38,295

32,279

1,291,885

129,422

21,491

28,643

32,226

60,844

75,183

15,112

Pension and profit-sharing plans

47,287

4,067

* 561

* 592

6,214

1,600

4,665

5,158

Rent paid on machinery and equipment

687,156

73,977

19,068

91,590

22,542

63,791

39,172

19,479

Rent paid on other business property

5,790,751

623,609

165,359

84,559

138,955

977,303

288,874

177,640

Repairs

1,234,286

229,775

25,705

33,103

64,575

183,543

46,473

91,290

Supplies

3,571,193

375,563

55,204

24,380

63,887

289,539

176,509

29,690

Salaries and wages

8,447,744

1,211,307

200,919

173,857

543,967

1,838,893

483,716

601,358

Taxes paid

2,655,680

351,750

96,245

43,847

111,434

410,389

134,156

181,119

Travel

1,374,102

99,833

27,321

22,068

28,934

35,541

56,688

17,071

Utilities

3,629,906

355,979

89,422

46,714

144,165

506,844

161,636

148,336

Other business expenses

11,725,736

1,422,023

154,209

217,192

305,543

1,206,850

590,805

537,543

653,890

10,170

24,040

* 11,390

1,952

4,503

38,457

* 157

10,938,785

905,745

499,096

280,253

756,458

815,883

680,625

248,101

Net income [1,2]

21,036,650

2,159,291

661,674

307,820

845,474

1,314,437

1,155,166

414,646

Deficit [2]

10,097,865

1,253,546

162,577

27,567

89,015

498,554

474,542

166,545

4,796,799

547,784

94,363

29,939

154,307

247,758

399,198

92,802

Office expenses

Home office business deductions, total
Net income less deficit [1,2]

Qualified business deduction
Returns with Schedule C-EZ:
Number of returns

334,383

22,941

** 7,155

**

* 6,138

11,970

23,121

0

Business receipts

1,830,275

219,324

** 38,683

**

* 35,913

92,433

83,625

0

Business deductions
Net income

274,833

25,646

** 7,177

**

* 2,276

* 12,059

22,763

0

1,555,442

193,677

** 31,506

**

* 33,637

80,374

60,862

0

Footnotes at end of table.

Statistics of Income Bulletin

25

Spring 2021

Sole Proprietorship Returns, Tax Year 2018
Table 2. Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships: Income Statements, by Industrial Sectors, Tax Year 2018—Continued
[All figures are estimates based on samples—money amounts are in thousands of dollars]

Retail trade—continued

Net income status, item

Clothing and
accessories
stores

Sporting
goods,
hobby, book,
and music
stores

General
merchandise
stores

(48)

(49)

(50)

Transportation and warehousing

Electronic
Miscellaneous
shopping
store
and mail-order
retailers
houses

(51)

(52)

Nonstore
retailers

Total

Air and
rail
transportation

(53)

(54)

(55)

BUSINESSES WITH AND WITHOUT NET INCOME
Number of returns [1]
Business receipts, total [1,2]
Income from sales and operations [1]

162,521

97,829

32,972

562,742

180,514

880,635

2,589,195

18,640

11,001,277

5,567,546

3,608,250

31,986,823

10,033,233

22,282,703

140,187,881

1,770,908
1,667,752

10,963,431

5,548,695

3,598,262

31,720,448

10,009,665

22,129,270

138,901,517

Other business income (loss) [1]

37,846

18,851

9,988

266,375

23,568

153,433

1,286,364

103,156

Business deductions, total [1,2]

10,707,739

5,409,667

3,414,224

28,865,278

9,166,505

20,197,722

122,388,020

2,049,615

Cost of sales and operations, total

5,453,930

2,910,559

2,413,703

15,422,173

5,170,633

10,332,789

13,187,842

495,098

Inventory, beginning of year

1,818,755

1,839,282

281,513

4,689,575

849,800

2,221,523

273,719

61,013

66,939

42,831

* 49,815

337,817

27,455

203,317

2,797,574

* 19,551

4,84

[Text truncated at 120,000 characters. The full text is on the page linked above.]

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/agency%3Airs%3Ae432a63823554735. Public record. Not legal advice.