I know many women who work from home or run a small business who can’t afford to pay an accountant to do their taxes for them. Doing the taxes yourself saves money but only if you are making sure that you are getting all the tax credits and deductions possible, otherwise if you are missing out on some savings then paying an accountant could really save you money in the end.Check these basic tax deductions to make sure you are including them in your tax return this year.
- If working from home in a home office don’t forget you may be able to take the deduction for the space used in the home as an office. Also, track your home utilities for the entire home for the year and if you have a qualified home office you can then deduct the percentage of the utilities used for that portion of the home.
- Make sure you keep receipts throughout the year for all office supplies used for business.
- Keep receipts for any office furniture or office computer equipment in order to deduct. You can either take the deduction up front or depreciate the item slowly over time.
- Track your mileage to deduct. If you work from home then you are able to deduct all mileage from your home to any additional place of business and back. If you don’t work from home then track your mileage from business stop to business stop. If you have a vehicle used solely for business use you can often depreciate it over time to account for the wear on the car.
- Often times the biggest deduction you get from being self employed is the health insurance premiums. These can be costly and the price is 100% deductible.
- Any deposits in to a retirement fund can be deducted
- Don’t forget to track all those little business expenses including association fees, website costs, domain registration fees, business registration costs, advertising costs, postage and bank fees.
Related articles
- The Home Office Deduction (turbotax.intuit.com)
- Don’t Miss These Business Deductions! (turbotax.intuit.com)
- Setting Up a Home Office (turbotax.intuit.com)
