First let me say that I need to send this off tomorrow (6.23.04). It
is urgent, but I am willing to tip for it.

I am currently being audited by the IRS due to the fact that I didn't
claim some work I did on a 1099 contract back in 2002. I got sent a
"Response To Our Proposed Changes" form sent to me. A women at the IRS
said that what I should do is check the box to disagree with with the
changes because I haven't claimed any deductions on the amount that I
earned ($9,000). She suggested that I total up my deductions and send
it in so they can adjust what I owe accordingly.
So my question is what can I claim? Under that contract I was helping
start a business...everything from meetings, and lunches to
programming.

I'm not a tax expert, but some suggestions from personal experience
with my own returns:

I would start by identifying major expenses for which one can readily
produce receipts.  You might be allowed to deduct some small,
unaccounted expenses if these are consist with expenses that are well
documented.  For example, if you have paid for airline tickets for
travel specifically and substantially related to your business
activities (e.g. to attend client meetings in another city), then it
would be consistent to claim some amounts for meals and taxi fares
during such a trip.

Depending on the nature of your work, you might be able to expense a
certain amount of supplies, tools, and services purchased in the
pursuit of this.  For example you may have Fedex'd packages, bought a
battery for your laptop, or run up a bill at Kinko's Copier.

If you used a credit card to make such purchases, the statements might
be one way of documenting these business expenses.

Good luck!  I hope that you are successful in reducing your tax liability.

regards, mathtalk-ga