Tax Write Offs

[mcarnes]

Anyone have some creative tax write offs? (legal of course) What do you write off? I own a small medical clinic. I can write off my macs and a portion of my camera system. But I need much more.

I talked to a CPA (at $100/hour). Blah, blah, blah is what I got. I need something useful! Any other small business owners out there?

 

[iGary]

Anyone have some creative tax write offs? (legal of course) What do you write off? I own a small medical clinic. I can write off my macs and a portion of my camera system. But I need much more.

I talked to a CPA (at $100/hour). Blah, blah, blah is what I got. I need something useful! Any other small business owners out there?

Every trip I take I write off as a business expense - everythings a photo shoot, right? I ALWAYS bring my camera and at least take a few pics. I even wrote off the airfare when my dad died. He would have loved that.

Medical expenses - co pays, premiums, prescriptions, mileage getting to and from - all deductable. Office supplies, equipment (as you have already noted), cell phone bill, if you have a desk in your house that you use for business you can write off a certain percentage of your mrtgage/rent based on square footage.

Magazine subscriptions, all my Photoshop and photography books....

Are you an LLC or a sole proprietorship?

¥ou should ask a friend for a CPA referral. I love mine she's great.

 

[gwuMACaddict]

no lawyer buddies? i confess i don't know much about it, but pretty much anything that you use for your business can be counted... much like iGary's plans...

there was a big lawsuit a few years ago when members of the NSO tried to write off instrument purchases as being part of their business expenses. they finally won.

 

[iSaint]

iGary has a lot of good write-offs.

Being a part-time youth minister, I deduct all my mileage to and from work, as well as any trips I take with the kids. I use my own car and pay for the gas. I also write-off a portion of my home rent as my office is in my home.

Also, I've been teaching a class on Quickbooks at a local community college. They pay me like a contractor, so I write-off my mileage to and from there.

You'd be surprised how much Intuit's online tax filing helps you along the way. I've used that and done my own taxes for the past several years.

EDIT: TurboTax is a better link for individual use.

 

[mcarnes]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I'm a sole prop. This is my first year in business so I'm not too worried about this year but things have picked up and next year might be a problem. I made $26K last month but have no idea if that will continue (fingers crossed) or -gulp- increase. My overhead is only about $1K per month since I have a small clinic with no employees (yet). I've been a poor student all my life and am really inexperienced when it comes to actually having money. I was thinking of buying a house since I can write off the interest, right? Don't know, I've never had a house.

Yes, I do need a better tax person. Anyone know a good one in the Portland, Oregon area? Maybe one that caters to doctors? I've looked all through the phone book and searched the web but can't pin one down. My doc friends all seem to hate the one they have.

 

[wordmunger]

At some point you just have to pay the taxes. You make $26K in a month and you'd better be paying some.

That said, with that kind of revenue, you probably want to incorporate pretty soon. At that point *everything changes,* and you'll definitely need a good accountant.

 

[katie ta achoo]

At that point *everything changes,* and you'll definitely need a good accountant.

Ultimate writeoff for you:

step 1: put KT through college
2: I'll be your accountant
3: write off my college tuition as a business expense
4: ???
5: PROFIT!


I think that's the way to do it.

 

[iSaint]

Does anyone know when I should make a self-employment tax deposit? And how much?

 

[iGary]

Does anyone know when I should make a self-employment tax deposit? And how much?

Include it with your estimated tax.

It's 15% of your gross. (That's social security only) - is that what you are asking?

If you are asking about state and Federal, they were due on the 15th.