I turn in all my records to the nice lady that puts all the numbers in the right place. Then she let's me know how much money to throw at the government to keep them from taking me away.

I got the mileage, cell phone, internet and all the various expenses listed. Is there anything else that I can claim as a business expense? There's got to be a way to put all my gun and guitar purchases in there, right?

But seriously, is there anything you guys list that I may not be thinking about? Any oddball stuff that is completely legal but not well known?

quote:

Any oddball stuff that is completely legal but not well known?

I can tell you from a work truck standpoint, that if you have a truck with a pick up bed you have to track mileage and sort your personal/business use. If you have a work truck bed (flatbed, utility body, etc), it's considered 100% business with no need to sort the mileage.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
I can tell you from a work truck standpoint, that if you have a truck with a pick up bed you have to track mileage and sort your personal/business use. If you have a work truck bed (flatbed, utility body, etc), it's considered 100% business with no need to sort the mileage.

It's a regular pickup bed. I do track mileage daily with it. I generally don't use it for personal driving as it gets like 9 MPG but the few times I have used it to pick up household stuff, I don't include those miles on my reports.

I have heard that if I letter the truck with business information (business name and phone number) that I can claim all mileage as a business expense as I'm advertising while driving. I haven't confirmed that but I don't plan on lettering my truck anyway. But who looks at a truck for phone numbers? Everyone googles that crap.

You have a home office right?

If your accountant is any good she'll ask you for anything she needs to maximize your deductions.

Do speak with your accountant, but...

Home office stuff. My home office is about 9% of the total square feet of my house. So 9% of the following is written off: Utilities, water bill, cleaning services, homeowners insurance and alarm system. I have a dedicated office space that is the size of one bedroom.

Then, I do a higher percentage of Internet access and my wireless phone bill based on the percentage of business use.

Then office expenses - I get new computer hardware about every two to four years. Laptop for on the road then plus my desktop. Printers. Paper and regular office stuff like PostIt notes and pens.

Postage and shipping.

Software subscriptions (like my Adobe Creative Cloud subscription and others).

Advertising. Software code purchases (plugins). Business dues and subscriptions. Server hosting costs.

Insurance.

Domain registration fees.

Travel. Business licenses. Professional and legal fees...

Sounds like you need an accountant not a tax lady.

The House just passed a new tax bill that is now in the Senate. Major changes are Child Tax Credits & Business depreciation. Never file your tax return until end of Feb as this happens about every 1/3 of the time.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
I have heard that if I letter the truck with business information (business name and phone number) that I can claim all mileage as a business expense as I'm advertising while driving. I haven't confirmed that but I don't plan on lettering my truck anyway. But who looks at a truck for phone numbers? Everyone googles that crap.

I have when the odd chance a truck that provides services comes by, always thought they should put a QR code on the doors and tailgate, people can use their phone camera and get all the contact info without having to write anything down.

Other than that, anything that you use for work, garage for storage, house office, utilities.

quote:

Originally posted by Krazeehorse:
Sounds like you need an accountant not a tax lady.

This sounds right, based on the question you're asking.
If she's just filling out the forms without asking the other stuff, you could just buy an annual Turbotax or similar for that.
What you should be paying for is their expertise and experience to give you guidance and what to do in the future that can be beneficial.

Do you have a retirement plan such as a SEP?

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Do you have a retirement plan such as a SEP?

Yes, a SEP-IRA allows much greater tax deferral via increased contribution limits compared to a "regular" IRA. And much less record-keeping and associated overhead than a 401K.

OTOH, the whole IRA and other "retirement vehicles" rely on the notion that, beacuse income will be limited in retirement that the taxpayer will be in a lower tax bracket than when contributing. This forecast does not seem to be as realistic going forward as it used to be. Not to mention the wealth-sapping influence of inflation, or the possibility of Govt. "sweeping" retirement assets into the Treasury to "compensate" for increased Social Security and other outlays.

It is far from clear that an IRA or other retirement plan will actually be a wise investment vehicle for much longer.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Do you have a retirement plan such as a SEP?

I do have a SEP.

^^^^^^^^^^^
Good!

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:

quote:

Originally posted by Krazeehorse:
Sounds like you need an accountant not a tax lady.

This sounds right, based on the question you're asking.
If she's just filling out the forms without asking the other stuff, you could just buy an annual Turbotax or similar for that.
What you should be paying for is their expertise and experience to give you guidance and what to do in the future that can be beneficial.

I can’t blame you for saying so. It’s just that I don’t think it’s prudent to pay 20% of my yearly net to hire an accountant when he would save me maybe a couple hundred dollars over what the lowly tax lady, who just may miss a deduction. I’m just a guy that owns his job, not a multimillion dollar corporation.

Don't forget to check the box for the Presidential Election Campaign Fund.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Don't forget to check the box for the Presidential Election Campaign Fund.

Hahaha!

Are we talking about the real President or president Aricept?