Auto Expenses
If you use your car for business, or your business owns its own vehicle, you can deduct some of the costs of keeping it on the road. Mastering the rules of car expense deductions can be tricky, but well worth your while.
There are two methods of claiming expenses:
Actual expense method. You keep track of and deduct all of your actual business-related expenses.
Standard mileage rate method. You deduct a certain amount (the standard mileage rate) for each mile driven, plus all business-related tolls and parking fees. In 2015, the standard mileage rate is 57.5 cents per business mile driven. For 2014, the rate was 56 cents per mile.
As a rule, if you use a newer car primarily for business, the actual expense method provides a larger deduction at tax time. If you use the actual expense method, you can also deduct depreciation on the vehicle. To qualify for the standard mileage rate, you must use it the first year you use a car for your business activity. Moreover, you can't use the standard mileage rate if you have claimed accelerated depreciation deductions in prior years, or have taken a Section 179 deduction for the vehicle. (For more on Section 179, see "New Equipment," below.)
If your auto is used for both business and pleasure, only the business portion produces a tax deduction. That means you must keep track of how often you use the vehicle for business and add it all up at the end of the year. Certainly, if you own just one car or
truck, no IRS auditor will let you get away with claiming that 100% of its use is related to your business.
Expenses of Going Into Business
Once you're running a business, expenses such as advertising, utilities, office supplies, and repairs can be deducted as current business expenses -- but not before you open your doors for business. The costs of getting a business started are capital expenses, and you may deduct $5,000 the first year you're in business; any remainder must be deducted in equal amounts over the next 15 years.
If you expect your business to make a profit immediately, you may be able to work around this rule by delaying paying some bills until after you're in business, or by doing a small amount of business just to officially start. However, if, like many businesses, you will suffer losses during the first few years of operation, you might be better off taking the deduction over five years, so you'll have some profits to offset.
Books and Legal and Professional Fees
Business books, including those that help you do without legal and tax professionals, are fully deductible as a cost of doing business.
Fees that you pay to lawyers, tax professionals, or consultants generally can be deducted in the year incurred. However, if the work clearly relates to future years, they must be deducted over the life of the benefit you get from the lawyer or other professional.
Bad Debts
If someone stiffs your business, the bad debt may or may not be deductible -- it depends on the kind of product your business sells.
Goods. If your business sells goods, you can deduct the cost of goods that you sell but aren't paid for.
Services. If, however, your business provides services, no deduction is allowed for time you devoted to a client or customer who doesn't pay.
Business Entertaining
If you pick up the tab for entertaining present or prospective customers, you may deduct 50% of the cost if it is either:
directly related to the business and business is discussed at the event -- for example, a catered meeting at your office; or
associated with the business, and the entertainment takes place immediately before or after a business discussion.
Make notes. On the receipt or bill, always make a note of the specific business purpose -- for example, "Lunch with Joyce Slater of Ace Manufacturing Co. to discuss widget contract."
Travel
When you travel for business, you can deduct many expenses, including the cost of plane fare, costs of operating your car, taxis, lodging, meals, shipping business materials, cleaning clothes, telephone calls, faxes, and tips.
What about combining business and pleasure? It's okay, as long as business is the primary purpose of the trip. However, if you take your family along, you can deduct only your own expenses.
Interest
If you use credit to finance business purchases, the interest and carrying charges are fully tax-deductible. The same is true if you take out a personal loan and use the proceeds for your business. Be sure to keep good records demonstrating that the money was used for your business.
New Equipment
Some small businesses can write off the full cost of some assets in the year they buy them, rather than capitalizing them -- deducting their cost over a number of years. (See Nolo's article current vs. capital expense for information on expenses that must be capitalized.) Under Section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code, you can currently deduct up to an annual threshold amount the cost of equipment and certain business assets you purchase and place in service that year. Some assets don't qualify for the Section 179 deduction, including real estate, inventory bought for resale, and property bought from a close relative.
The Section 179 threshold amount was originally set at $25,000 (adjusted for inflation). Congress dramatically increased the amount in recent years to help small businesses in a struggling economy. For 2014, the annual limit is $500,000 (the same amount as 2010 through 2013). Unless it is extended again by Congress (as it has been for the last several years), the amount will go back to $25,000 in 2015.
There is also a first-year bonus depreciation deduction in effect for 2014 (and 2012 and 2013). This special deduction allows taxpayers to depreciate an additional 50% of the adjusted basis of qualified new property during the first year the property was placed in service. This deduction can be taken in addition to the Section 179 deduction and offers tremendous tax savings.
Moving Expenses
If you move because of your business or job, you may be able to deduct certain moving costs that would otherwise be non-deductible personal living expenses. To qualify, you must have moved in connection with your business (or job, if you're an employee of your own corporation or someone else's business). The new workplace must be at least 50 miles farther from your old home than your old workplace was. (Technically, moving expenses aren't business expenses; there's a special place to list them on your Form 1040 tax return.)
Software
As a general rule, software bought for business use must be depreciated over a 36-month period, but there are some important exceptions:
Computer software placed in service from January 1, 2003 through December 31, 2014 is eligible for a Section 179 deduction, which means that 100% of the cost of software can be deducted in the year purchased.
When software comes with a computer, and its cost is not separately stated, it's treated as part of the hardware and is depreciated over five years. However, under Section 179, you can write off a whole computer system (including bundled software) in the first year if the total cost is within the Section 179 annual deduction amount (see Section 179 discussion above). See IRS Publication 946, How to Depreciate Property.
Charitable Contributions
If your business is a partnership, a limited liability company, or an S corporation (a corporation that has chosen to be taxed like a partnership), your business can make a charitable contribution and pass the deduction through to you, to claim on your individual tax return. If you own a regular (C) corporation, the corporation can deduct the charitable contributions.
If you've got some old computers or office furniture, giving it to a school or nonprofit organization can yield goodwill plus a tax benefit. However, if the equipment has been fully depreciated (written off), you can't claim a deduction.
Taxes
Taxes incurred in operating your business are generally deductible. How and when they are deducted depends on the type of tax:
Sales tax on items you buy for your business's day-to-day operations is deductible as part of the cost of the items; it's not deducted separately. However, tax on a big business asset, such as a car, must be added to the car's cost basis; it isn't deductible entirely in the year the car was bought.
Excise and fuel taxes are separately deductible expenses.
If your business pays employment taxes, the employer's share is deductible as a business expense. Self-employment tax is paid by individuals, not their businesses, and so isn't a business expense.
Federal income tax paid on business income is never deductible. State income tax can be deducted on your federal return as an itemized deduction, not as a business expense.
Real estate tax on property used for business is deductible, along with any special local assessments for repairs or maintenance. If the assessment is for an improvement -- for example, to build a sidewalk -- it isn't immediately deductible; instead, it is deducted over a period of years.
Education Expenses
You can deduct education expenses if they are related to your current business, trade, or occupation. The expense must be to maintain or improve skills required in your present employment. (The cost of education that qualifies you for a new job isn't deductible.)
Advertising and Promotion
The cost of ordinary advertising of your goods or services -- business cards, yellow page ads, and so on -- is deductible as a current expense. Promotional costs that create business goodwill -- for example, sponsoring a peewee football team -- are also deductible as long as there is a clear connection between the sponsorship and your business. For example, naming the team the "Southwest Auto Parts Blues" or listing the business name in the program is evidence of the promotion effort.
Easily Overlooked Business Expenses
Here are some additional routine deductions that many business owners miss. Keep your eye out for them.
audiotapes and videotapes related to business skills
bank service charges
business association dues
business gifts
business-related magazines and books
casual labor and tips
casualty and theft losses
coffee and beverage service
commissions
consultant fees
credit bureau fees
office supplies
online computer services related to business
parking and meters
petty cash funds
postage
promotion and publicity
seminars and trade shows
taxi and bus fare
telephone calls away from the business