Jewellery Direct Supply
obscure direct sales self-employed tax deductions?
i am in direct sales and figuring out my taxes. What are some of the more obscure tax-deductions that I may be missing? I am already deducting the regular deductions (cellphone, supplies, jewelry samples & etc)
I do not own my home, it is supplied by my husband’s job, so I can’t deduct any portions of my home. The utilities are also included in my husband’s job…except for internet, phone & cable. I already deduct a portion of that bill due to my internet usage for my business. Can I deduct a portion of the home phone since I use that for my business as well as my cell phone?
Thanks for anything you can send my way….as of right now my tax due is higher than I had expected, so I am hoping to, legally, decrease that total.
Thank you!
Well, off the top of my head, you didn’t mention auto expenses such as mileage, so that could be something you are missing. The real question you should be asking is what expenses you paid for the business that you have not taken into account already?
A couple of notes on the details you did give though. The only way to take a portion of any expenses related to your home is through establishing a home office, and the rules for this are VERY STRICT. VERY, VERY STRICT. You have to set up an area that is used regularly and exclusively for the business, and meets one of the following: 1. is your principal place of business, 2. is where you meet your clients, or 3. is an area used for storage of inventory. The exclusive part means you never use the space for anything else, ever.
If you have a home office, then you could have a business expense in the form of a business portion of the home expenses, including utilities. You should note though, that the Internal Revenue Code explicitly EXCLUDES you first home phone line in the home from ever being a business expense – no matter how much you use it for business. You cell phone can be a business expense, but you need to determine the percentage of business use versus personal use (usually this is done by determining the minutes used for business vs. the minutes used for everything else).
Finally, make sure you don’t estimate. anything. ever. If you get audited, your estimates will be a quick easy adjustment for the tax man, and you will have to pay interest and maybe penalties down the line.
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