What expenses can I deduct?

Question

What small business expenses I occureed last year can I deduct?
For example, meals with clients, marketting, office supplies, etc. what other categories would you suggest? I need to deduct a lot

Answer 1

Any travel expenses, advertising, wages (if any) paid out, any license fees, insurance (if business related), postage, office supplies, refunds paid to client, Contributions,legal and accounting fees. You can depreciate any equipment that you bought this year. You can also take a deduction for any health insurance that you paid out for yourself. Did you have a home office used exclusively for business? If so, you can take a percentage of utility bills, mortgage/rent payments, etc.

Answer 2

You need to deduct your actual expenses. First I need to know if how you receive income. I assume you are either self-employed or work as a statutory employee such as insurance salesman. The statutory employee status is shown on your W2.

Schedule C shows the categories of expenses that you can deduct in each case. Here is a link to the 2006 Schedule C

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf

Answer 3

There are a ton of small business expenses you can deduct. It depends on if you are self employed, work from home, or work for a company. Sometimes it is NOT better to go with the actual expenses. You may want to try to elf prepare your taxes on www.turbtax.com.

Answer 4

It's probably worth your while to talk to a tax accountant and ask this question. He or she can give you advice on what you can deduct and how you need to document it.

Answer 5

One suggestion is to make a milage book.