Entrepreneurship

Are you missing tax deductions you’re entitled to? Small business owners, self-employed workers, and independent contractors can write off many legitimate business expenses immediately, reducing the amount of income on which they pay taxes. But if you overlook applicable deductions or fail to keep adequate records that will back up your write-offs during an audit, you give up opportunities to cut your tax bill.

The Schedule C tax form used by sole proprietors to report business profit or loss has 21 line items for business expenses—including such catch-all categories as “office expense,” “supplies,” and “other expenses.” The tax forms for partnerships, LLCs, and S-corps are similarly broad. “It doesn’t even begin to hint at all the things that a business can legitimately deduct,” says Bernard Kamoroff, a certified public accountant and author of 422 Tax Deductions for Businesses & Self Employed Individuals. Don’t expect your accountant to find all the deductions you qualify for—your accountant doesn’t know your spending as intimately as you do.  …more at Hidden Tax Tips for Entrepreneurs – Business Week, published 17 February 2009.

Flickr photo credit: ANATOLI AXELROD