The next tax season will be my first time filing as an Independent Contractor instead of as an Employee. I have heard that there are many tax benefits in doing this. I realize there a tax deductions you can claim for various office supplies and monthly bills you mus pay in order to run your business. What are some of the other benefits of filing as an IC instead of as an employee?

I am under the assumption that you are filling a 1099...in that case you can only be taxed on the profit that you take home.

Let's say you take a client out to eat for 'business' purposes, keep that receipt and hand it over to a trusted CPA and he'll write it off for you.

Leasing cars for 'business' also helps write off more taxes. Costs incurred by up keeping the car can also be written off (gas, oil changes etc.).

Even business attire can be written off.

The key is to have an excellent CPA and keep a paper trail of everything you spend (or at least an electronic trail for credit cards etc...).