Can you claim office supplies and postage as a freelancer? Paper, pens, printer ink, printing, stamps and postage, mixed receipts, things that last and where it goes under the IRS, HMRC and CRA rules (US, UK, Canada)

A ream of paper, a new ink cartridge, a box of envelopes, a book of stamps to post a signed contract: small office costs add up over a year, and they're easy to lose track of. Here's what the IRS, HMRC and the CRA say about claiming office supplies, stationery, printing and postage, how they treat a receipt that mixes business and personal things, where longer-lasting items go instead, which line or box each country uses, and what to keep.

General information, not tax, legal or accounting advice. Not written or reviewed by a lawyer or an accountant. The short answer, the side-by-side summary, the steps, the checklist, the wording to copy and all the other wording are ours; the official items come from the US, UK and Canadian government pages linked below. This page is about a self-employed person (a sole proprietor or sole trader) buying everyday office supplies and paying postage. It doesn't tell you whether a particular purchase counts, what share of a mixed receipt is business, or which line or box applies to you, and it doesn't cover shipping goods you sell, stock and the cost of goods sold, equipment and furniture in detail, employees, partnerships or companies, VAT, GST/HST or sales tax, US states, Canadian provinces, Quebec, or other countries. Phone bills, software and equipment are in our separate guides. Rules change; check the current official pages before you claim. Official pages were read on 2026-10-20.

The short answer

1. US: the Schedule C instructions say, under Line 18, "Include on this line your expenses for office supplies and postage." Materials and supplies you use up have their own line; see sections one and two.
2. UK: GOV.UK lists "office costs, for example stationery or phone bills" among the costs you can claim, and its list of office costs includes postage, stationery, printing, and printer ink and cartridges; see sections three and four.
3. Canada: the CRA's office expenses line says "You can deduct the cost of office expenses that are generally not related to your workspace. These include small items such as:"
   • pens
   • pencils
   • paper clips
   • stationery
   • stamps
   See section five.
4. Postage in Canada? The CRA pages we read name stamps but not postage as such, and give delivery, freight and express its own line. Our reading is in "Where the sources differ".
5. Things that last? A printer, a desk or a chair isn't an everyday supply in any of the three countries; those follow the equipment rules in our equipment guide.

On this page

• 1. United States: office supplies and postage
• 2. United States: materials and supplies, and things that last
• 3. United Kingdom: stationery, printing and postage
• 4. United Kingdom: the return notes
• 5. Canada: the two office lines
• 6. Canada: stamps, deliveries and things that last
• 7. Side by side
• 8. Step by step
• 9. Wording to copy
• 10. Checklist
• Free tools and kits
• Where the sources differ
• When to get advice
• Related
• Sources

1. United States: office supplies and postage

• The general rule: "To be deductible, a business expense must be both ordinary and necessary. An ordinary expense is one that is common and accepted in your field of business. A necessary expense is one that is helpful and appropriate for your business."
• Business and personal: "If you have an expense that is partly for business and partly personal, separate the personal part from the business part. The personal part is generally not deductible."
• Other Expenses You Can Deduct: "You may also be able to deduct the following expenses." The list includes "Supplies and materials." (IRS: Publication 334 (2025), Tax Guide for Small Business, page date 30-Apr-2026).
• The office expense line: under Line 18, the instructions say "Include on this line your expenses for office supplies and postage."
• Working from home: in the part on business use of your home, they say "Use Part II of Schedule C to deduct business expenses that are unrelated to the qualified business use of the home (for example, expenses for advertising, wages, or supplies, or depreciation of equipment or furniture)." (IRS: Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040) (2025), page date 30-Apr-2026).

So supplies stay on their own lines even if you work from home; the home office itself is in the home office section of our Schedule C guide, and the other expense lines in its expense categories.

2. United States: materials and supplies, and things that last

• Line 22: "In most cases, you can deduct the cost of materials and supplies only to the extent you actually consumed and used them in your business during the tax year (unless you deducted them in a prior tax year)." "However, if you had incidental materials and supplies on hand for which you kept no inventories or records of use, you can deduct the cost of those you actually purchased during the tax year, provided that method clearly reflects income."
• Books and equipment: "You can also deduct the cost of books, professional instruments, equipment, etc., if you normally use them within a year. However, if their usefulness extends substantially beyond a year, you must generally recover their costs through depreciation." (IRS: Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040) (2025), page date 30-Apr-2026).
• Timing under the accrual method: the small business publication's example says "You are a calendar-year taxpayer and use an accrual method of accounting. You buy office supplies in December 2025. You receive the supplies and the bill in December, but you pay the bill in January 2026. You can deduct the expense in 2025 because all events that fix the fact of liability have occurred, the amount of the liability could be reasonably determined, and economic performance occurred in that year." (IRS: Publication 334 (2025), Tax Guide for Small Business, page date 30-Apr-2026).

That example is for the accrual method; how the cash method and the accrual method decide the year is in our cash vs accrual guide. Depreciation and the first-year rules for things that last are in our equipment guide, not repeated here.

3. United Kingdom: stationery, printing and postage

• Running costs: "If you’re self-employed, you can only claim for costs related to business purchases, including:" The list includes "office costs, for example stationery or phone bills"
• Business and personal use: "You can only claim allowable expenses for the business costs." (GOV.UK: Expenses if you're self-employed, page date 2024-11-08).
• Short-lived items: "If you’re self-employed - a sole trader or individual in a business partnership - you can claim items you’d normally use for less than 2 years as allowable expenses, for example:"
  • stationery
  • rent, rates, power and insurance costs
• Stationery: under that heading, GOV.UK says "You can claim expenses for costs such as:"
  • phone, mobile, fax and internet bills
  • postage
  • stationery
  • printing
  • printer ink and cartridges
  • computer software your business uses for less than 2 years
  • computer software if your business makes regular payments to renew the licence (even if you use it for more than 2 years)
  "If you’re not sure whether a business cost is an allowable expense contact HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)."
• Equipment you keep: "For equipment you keep to use in your business, for example computers or printers, claim:"
  • allowable expenses if you use cash basis accounting
  • capital allowances if you use traditional accounting
• Non-business use: "You cannot claim for any non-business use of premises, phones or other office resources." (GOV.UK: Expenses if you're self-employed, office, property and equipment, page date 2024-11-08).

The same list covers phone and internet bills and software; those are in our phone and internet bills guide and our software subscriptions guide. Equipment you keep is in the UK part of our equipment guide.

4. United Kingdom: the return notes

• The box: the notes for the full self-employment pages say, under Box 23 Phone, fax, stationery and other office costs, "This includes phone and fax running costs, postage, stationery and printing costs, small office equipment and computer software (if under 2 years old). If you include the non-business or private use proportion of these expenses, you’ll also need to put that part of the expense in box 38." (HMRC: Self-employment (full) notes, Tax year 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026 (2025–26), PDF).

If you use the short pages or give one total for expenses, the boxes are different; our UK Self Assessment guide shows the expense boxes on both versions, and working from home is in its working from home section.

5. Canada: the two office lines

• The general rule: "Generally, you can deduct any reasonable current expense you incur to earn business income." "However, since you cannot deduct personal expenses, enter only the business part of expenses on the Form T2125, Statement of Business or Professional Activities." (CRA: Expenses section of Form T2125, page date 2026-08-31).
• Line 8810 – Office expenses: "You can deduct the cost of office expenses that are generally not related to your workspace. These include small items such as:"
  • pens
  • pencils
  • paper clips
  • stationery
  • stamps
  "For office expenses related to your workspace, go to Line 8811 – Office stationery and supplies." (CRA: Line 8810 – Office expenses, page date 2026-08-31).
• Line 8811 – Office stationery and supplies: "You can deduct the cost of items the business used to provide goods or services, for example, drugs and medication used by a veterinarian or cleaning supplies used by a plumber." (CRA: Line 8811 – Office stationery and supplies, page date 2026-08-31). In the guide, the same line adds "These expenses are generally related to the workspace."

The two lines are worded in a way that's easy to misread; our reading is in "Where the sources differ". Working from home is in the home section of our guide for Canadian freelancers, and the other expense lines in its expenses section.

6. Canada: stamps, deliveries and things that last

• Capital items: "Office expenses do not include capital expenditures to acquire capital property such as:"
  • calculators
  • filing cabinets
  • chairs
  • desks
  "These are capital items." (CRA: Line 8810 – Office expenses, page date 2026-08-31).
• Line 9275 – Delivery, freight and express: "You can deduct the cost incurred in the year of delivery, freight, and express that relates to your business." (CRA: Guide Self-employed Business, Professional, Commission, Farming, and Fishing Income: Chapter 3 – Expenses, page date 2026-04-16).

The CRA's list of expense lines links this delivery line to the guide rather than to a page of its own. Capital items go through capital cost allowance, which is in the Canadian part of our equipment guide.

7. Side by side

Our summary of sections one to six, not official wording.

8. Step by step

Our order of steps, based on sections one to six — not an official checklist.

1. Keep the receipt or order confirmation for every office purchase: paper, pens, printer ink, envelopes, stamps, postage labels and printing.
2. Write a short note of what each purchase was for, so a mixed shop can be split later.
3. Leave out anything bought for home or family use, and split a receipt that mixes business and personal items.
4. Put longer-lasting things such as a printer, a desk or a chair through the equipment rules instead.
5. Keep phone bills and software plans apart; they have their own guides and, in some countries, their own lines or boxes.
6. Keep stamps and everyday postage apart from courier or freight charges, which go on a separate line in Canada.
7. If you buy supplies in bulk near the end of the year, check the timing rules for your country and accounting method.
8. Use the same line or box for the same kind of cost from year to year.
9. Ask the tax office or an adviser if you’re unsure, especially about large or unusual purchases.

9. Wording to copy

Fill in everything in [brackets]. This is ours, not from any agency, and it's not tax, legal or accounting advice. It doesn't take the place of the receipts and records your tax office may ask for.

A purchase record for office supplies and postage

Office supplies and postage record (my own records, not an official document)
Tax year: [year or period]
Date bought: [date]
Shop or supplier: [name]
What it was: [paper / pens / printer ink / envelopes / stamps / postage / printing / other]
What it was for: [business use]
Business or mixed: [business only / mixed, business part worked out as: method]
Amount paid: [amount]
Longer-lasting item (equipment rules instead)? [yes / no]
Line or box used: [line or box]
Receipt kept at: [where]

A request to a shop or supplier for an itemised receipt

Hi [shop or supplier],

Could you send an itemised receipt or invoice for my order [order number or date], showing each item and the amount paid?

[If the order mixed business and personal items, could you split them into two receipts?]

That way my records match my purchases. Thanks,
[your name]

10. Checklist

Our summary of the official pages above, not an official checklist.

• Receipts kept for paper, ink, stamps, postage and printing
• What each purchase was for, noted
• Personal items left out or split from business ones
• Longer-lasting items moved to the equipment rules
• Phone bills and software kept apart
• Postage kept apart from courier and freight charges
• Supplies left at the end of the year checked against the timing rules
• The line or box you used on your return
• Anything you’re not sure about, checked with the tax office or an adviser

Free tools and kits

• Our free expense tracking guide shows a simple way to keep business cost records.
• Our free expense and receipt log keeps the details for each purchase.
• Our paid Freelance Billing Kit by Small Rows (US$12, one-time) can log each purchase: the Expenses tab has a date, a category, a description, the amount paid and a "Deductible? (your call)" column, and the category drop-down lets you pick Office & supplies from the kit's own list, the office expense line or the supplies line from the US list, or the phone, fax, stationery and other office costs box from the UK list, or type your own. Each row counts in full in the year of its date; to count only the business part of a receipt that mixes business and personal items, enter a row marked Yes and a row marked No. It doesn't read receipts, split a receipt, track supplies left over, decide what counts, pick the line or box for you or file anything.
• All three kits together: the All-Kits Bundle by Small Rows (US$24, one-time).

Where the sources differ

• Postage in Canada isn't named: the CRA pages we read list stamps on the office expenses line and give delivery, freight and express a line of its own, but don't name postage as such. Our reading is that stamps for business mail belong on the office expenses line, and courier or shipping charges you pay to send business items belong on the delivery, freight and express line; use one approach consistently.
• The CRA's two office lines: the office expenses page sends office expenses related to your workspace to the office stationery and supplies line, while that line describes items the business used to provide goods or services, and the guide adds that they are generally related to the workspace. Our reading is that everyday office items such as pens, paper and stamps go on the office expenses line, and supplies you use up in doing the work for clients go on the office stationery and supplies line; ask the CRA if you're unsure.
• Which US line: the instructions put office supplies and postage on the office expense line and materials and supplies on the supplies line, without drawing the line between them. Our reading is that everyday office items such as paper, pens, ink and stamps go on the office expense line, and materials you use up in doing client work go on the supplies line; use the same line each year.
• Small office equipment: the UK return notes put small office equipment in the office costs box, the CRA calls calculators, filing cabinets, chairs and desks capital items, and the US instructions turn on whether you normally use something within a year. Our reading is that anything you expect to last should be checked against the equipment rules in your country, which our equipment guide covers.
• Supplies left over at the end of the year: only the US instructions say what happens to supplies you haven't used up, and the GOV.UK and CRA pages we read don't cover it. Our reading is that everyday office items you buy as you need them are usually claimed for the year you buy them, but check the timing rules before stocking up near the end of the year.
• Working from home: the US instructions keep supplies out of the home office deduction, and the CRA's office expenses line is for expenses generally not related to your workspace. Our reading is that everyday office supplies are claimed as ordinary expenses, not as part of a working-from-home claim, but the CRA's wording on its two office lines makes Canada the case to check.
• Page dates and editions: the IRS publication and instructions are the editions for the latest tax year, and the CRA guide is its latest edition; GOV.UK's expenses pages carry an older page date. Our reading is that the rules above are current, but check the live pages and later editions before you file.
• What we did not check: shipping goods you sell and the cost of goods sold; stock and inventory; the US first-year rules for things that last in detail (equipment guide); printing and mailshots used to advertise; promotional items; subscriptions to publications; employees, partnerships and companies; the short self-employment pages line by line; VAT, GST/HST and sales tax; US state rules; Quebec and provincial rules; other countries' rules.

When to get advice

• you buy supplies in bulk or near the end of the tax year;
• a purchase mixes business and personal items and you can't split the receipt;
• something you bought might last longer than a year, such as a printer or furniture;
• you post or ship goods you sell to customers;
• you use supplies in the work you do for clients and aren't sure which line or box applies;
• you have a partner or a company, or you're registered for VAT, GST/HST or sales tax.

Talk to an accountant or a tax adviser in your country. This page is general information only.

Related

• Phone and internet bills
• Software subscriptions
• Buying equipment as a freelancer
• Freelance expense tracking
• Schedule C for US freelancers
• UK Self Assessment for freelancers
• Canadian self-employment statement for freelancers

Sources

• United States: IRS: Publication 334 (2025), Tax Guide for Small Business, page date 30-Apr-2026 · IRS: Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040) (2025), page date 30-Apr-2026
• United Kingdom: GOV.UK: Expenses if you're self-employed, page date 2024-11-08 · GOV.UK: Expenses if you're self-employed, office, property and equipment, page date 2024-11-08 · HMRC: Self-employment (full) notes (Tax year 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026 (2025–26), PDF)
• Canada: CRA: Expenses section of Form T2125, page date 2026-08-31 · CRA: Line 8810 – Office expenses, page date 2026-08-31 · CRA: Line 8811 – Office stationery and supplies, page date 2026-08-31 · CRA: Guide Self-employed Business, Professional, Commission, Farming, and Fishing Income: Chapter 3 – Expenses, page date 2026-04-16

Checked 2026-10-20. Found a mistake? Tell us via Support.