Well guys it's about that time of the year again.
Just wondering if any of you guys have a list off
Items that you deduct on a yearly basis, Maybe
I'm missing something that I could be writing off
On my end. If you would like to pm me that would
Also work. Thanks in advance.

Business use of a personal vehicle.

Petty cash expenses. ( Save receipts )

Since most work out of their houses, ask you tax preparer what expenses can be deducted. ( Heat, electricity, etc. )

Office supplies, including computer, fax, printer, telephones, ink, paper, desks, and on and on and on.

Advertising expenses, Internet service, seminars, contributions made through the company.

Okay, I have to stop now and work on my freaken taxes.

Our last state legislature passed a bill that took taxable business equipment from $20K to $100K. So if you own under 100K it's not taxed. That's what Republicans can do for you!
NE the square footage of your home office is deductible as well as any storage space used for your equipment.

Kasey,

Have you tried turbotax? Depending on how many moving parts you have, we find it very effective and use the home/small business model.

Walks you through and gives you the option of checking out any / all deductions.

Disclaimer - if you have an accountant, obviously they should be doing this for you!



Justin

I do have an accountant that I use every year. Never
Mentioned anything about deductions for an office.
I do all my billing and book work at my bar and I heat
With wood so no fuel bill and my electric for my entire
House is only 75-80 dollars a month. No internete except
On my phone wich I forgot to write down as a deduction.
Thanks again for the replies.

Do not feel bad about your accountant. We are on our 4th one in twenty years. The one we have now is not nearly as expensive as our last one and they disallow more deductions than the IRS. Having said that, they have also saved us more tax money legitimately than all the other three put together.

Cost of wood and/or chainsaw?

Cost of accountant?

Vehicle expense. ( Actual or mileage, whichever gets you more, but only one or the other )

Since I'm biased towards accountants I can say that just like all other occupations, there are good ones and bad ones. Also, there is this thing called the IRS code that seems to be ever changing so what is allowed one year may not be allowed the next (179 deductions for instance).

When it comes to business expenses the key to remember is ANYTHING that is related to the business needs to be put down and a receipt kept. You're paying an accountant and their expertise to figure out how much of what is allowed and where on the form it goes. The harder part is figuring out what to do depreciation on and what not to.

Does a Comstock beaver trap need to be deprecated? What about a dozen of Duke 110's? Both of these may be no until you purchase a certain number of them like 10 Comstock beaver traps and 10 dozen 110's as now they have turned into a much higher investment.

Most CPA's are very reasonable for small businesses to hire so don't think that you've got to spend several thousand to have them do your taxes. The first CPA I hired was for $150 a year and that included doing my taxes and advice on setting up my books. Of course now my wife does them so I guess I'm paying more, I just haven't sat down and figured it out yet. :-)

In terms of Turbo Tax, I can say that while it is promoted as a great solution there are always problems with it. The biggest is that it cannot ask unique questions to your situation so you may not be getting all the deductions you could.

Does anyone else get the feeling that Eric's first CPA was also his last CPA and got tired of all that work for a service call, so she married him?

P.S. Eric, if you do ever decide to sit down and figure how much marriage costs, please keep it a secret. The rest of us are quite content in our own little dream world that marriage is actually a paying proposition.

No Paul,

The first CPA is not the one I married. First, it was a man and I just wasn't interested and second, I was already married to the one I have now but she hadn't gotten her Masters in Tax yet nor passed the CPA exam.

In terms of how much marriage costs, you don't have to worry. I'm sure it is higher than our national debt and I don't have enough fingers and toes to count that high.