THE FLIP SIDE
accounting for your expenses
After reading the first blog TAX TRICK #1 hopefully you feel great about all the monies you received this year but it’s time to flip the coin and start to remember all the monies you spent this year.
You know the saying “it takes money to make money”, well that's actually a positive thing when it comes to taxes. The more you can write off (which means to count it as an business expense against your business income) the less you may owe back to IRS.
THINK ABOUT THIS
Did you make any of the following purchases in 2016?
- Car improvements
- Car mileage to get to work meetings
- Parking tickets while at a meeting (is that just me?)
- Work lunch or Coffee Meetings
- Clothes for work
- Equipment for work
- Entertainment for work (i.e. most actors write off movie tickets and tv subscriptions)
- Marketing costs (i.e. website, domains, business cards, consulting, gifts for clients)
- Covered California Health Insurance Payments
- Business Credit Card Interest
- Student Loan Interest
- Conference Tickets
- Cell phone bill
Then these expenses get to count against your un-taxed freelance income and this is just a small list. The main tax categories include:
Advertising
Car Expenses
Home Office
Office Supplies and Equipment
Travel and Meals
Utilities
Health Insurance
And the list goes on! Just when you thought the IRS wanted to take all your new hard-earned money here they come to balance out their request. Deductions are a vital tool to making sure you don't owe the IRS hundreds of thousands of dollars, so take your time. Seek advice and do you homework.
The best resource I have found is with The Freelancer's Union. Create an account for free and you get to download simplified, easy to read freelancer resources! (https://www.freelancersunion.org/resources/?q=taxes