I do my own taxes but I have to make the same caution, that my research applied to my businesses and your mileage may vary. A business expense is any expense you have to pay to stay in business, like (in my case at least) internet and a computer, software for sure, that action pack if I get it, etc. Things that arguably help you do business better would also count, such as books, convention attendance, etc. My own rule of thumb is, can I imagine justifying it to an auditor with a straight face. If not, I don't do it, and an usually wind up with pretty low net income anyway. A playstaion might qualify if you were a game designer, but not otherwise.
To use a different example, when I was driving a cab, the rent paid for the cab was a business expense (can't drive a cab without a cab) and so was the gas (absolutely necessary). The maps, and licenses also qualified. My research indicated that meals are a business expense if eaten more than 50 mi from home but I decided this was too hard to document. Also might not pass the giggle test. Business lunches for a cab driver? I never tried to deduct parking or speeding tickets either, again does not pass the giggle test. A point which was important for me was that you are not required to file a deduction. You might want to have your income over a certain level to qualify for a loan for example. Dana On Mon, 16 Jun 2003 09:41:17 -0500, Raymond Camden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> Ray, so how do you report the income if you arent an actual business? >> And what kinds of things could I deduct? Like software, etc? >> > > Let me start by saying I know nothing about taxes. I pay a tax person to > do everything for me. According to her (and my last one as well), any > business related expense can be deducted. You just don't want to screw > around and say your PS2 is for business. (Although if you were a game > reviewer it would count I guess - I almost started doing that.) So, I > save things like my Cox Internet bills, all my hard expenses, etc. I > think they also take a part of my mortgage payment since I have a home > office... but I'm not entirely sure about that. Basically it comes down > to - I'd rather spend the money on cool computer crap then on taxes. :) > > -rc > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.coolfusion.com Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
