Human Development Center

West South Central Workforce Planning and Assistance

Unincurred Business Expenses (Self-Employment) 

"Unincurred Business Expenses" are contributions made by others to your self-employment business effort. For example, if the state VR agency gives you a computer for your business, or a friend works for your business as unpaid help, these are "unincurred business expenses".

SSA generally follows the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules to figure your net earnings from self-employment. The IRS only allows you to deduct expenses for which you actually paid or incurred debt. When SSA makes an SGA decision, they also deduct unincurred business expenses from your net earnings because they want an accurate measure of the value of your work.

For an item or service to qualify as an unincurred business expense:

  • It must be an item or service that the IRS would allow as a legitimate business expense if you had paid for it; and
  • Someone other than you must have paid for it.

SSA does not deduct unincurred business expenses from earnings when figuring your SSI payment amount.

For more information on Ticket to Work, including a list of approved Employment Networks, contact the SSA Ticket Program Operations Support Manager, MAXIMUS, at their toll free numbers: 1-866-YOURTICKET (1-866-968-7842) or for TTY/TDD call 1-866-833-2967 between 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern time (Monday through Friday).

For a complete explanation go to SSA Online and view the Redbook section or contact your local WSC WIPA Benefits Planner 1-(855)-886-5123.

This website was developed at U.S. taxpayer expense.