March 2006

Business Expenses:
What can I deduct?
a Must Read from IRS.gov

This year, I received notification of an audit for a previous year's expenses. Not only was I nervous, I wasn't completely prepared, or up-to-date on what the IRS constitutes as a legal deduction.

Cell Phones for example, you MUST log every incoming and outgoing call, who the call was from/to, the number, the nature of the call, and the business that was discussed. Or, you cannot take your cell phone as a deduction. People who are tax experts I know weren't even aware of this!

Also, your office telephone lines in your home. Did you know that you cannot take the first line if you don't have a separate line in your home just for your home? Unless you can prove it was used for business-here again, you MUST log every incoming/outgoing call, who it was, the nature of the call and so on, or you cannot take that line in a deduction, EVEN IF THAT LINE IS IN YOUR BUSINESS NAME.

Overall, this has been an eye-opening experience for me. Don't give the IRS reason to question, keep logs. Following is some very helpful information directly from the IRS site. BE INFORMED!

Kathy Ritchie
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Business expenses are the cost of carrying on a trade or business. These expenses are usually deductible if the business is operated to make a profit.

What Can I Deduct?
To be deductible, a business expense must be both ordinary and necessary. An ordinary expense is one that is common and accepted in your trade or business. A necessary expense is one that is helpful and appropriate for your trade or business. An expense does not have to be indispensable to be considered necessary.
It is important to separate business expenses from the following expenses:

*The expenses used to figure the cost of goods sold
*Capital Expenses
*Personal Expenses
Note: If you have an expense that is partly for business and partly personal, separate the personal part from the business part.
*Cost of Goods Sold

If your business manufactures products or purchases them for resale, some of your expenses may be included in figuring the cost of goods sold. You deduct the cost of goods sold from your gross receipt to figure your gross profit for the year.
If you use an expense to figure the cost of goods sold, you cannot deduct it again as a business expense.


The following are types of expenses that go into figuring the cost of goods sold.
* The cost of product or raw materials, including the cost of having them shipped to you.
*The cost of storing the products you sell.
*Direct labor costs (including contributions to pensions or annuity plans) for workers who produce the products.
*Factory overhead expenses.

Capital Expenses
You must capitalize, rather than deduct, some costs. These costs are a part of your investment in your business and are called capital expenses. There are, in general, three types of costs you capitalize.
*Going into business.
*Business assets.
*Improvements.

Personal Expenses
Generally, you cannot deduct personal, living, or family expenses. However, if you have an expense for something that is used partly for business and partly for personal purposes, divide the total cost between the business and personal parts. You can deduct as a business expense only the business part.

Business Use of Your Home
If you use part of your home for business, you may be able to deduct expenses for the business use of your home. These expenses may include mortgage interest, insurance, utilities, repairs, and depreciation. Refer to Publication 587, Business Use of Your Home.

Business Use of Your Car
If you use your car in your business, you can deduct car expenses. Refer to Publication 463, Travel, Entertainment, Gift, and Car Expenses.

Other Types of Business Expenses
*Employees' Pay - You can generally deduct the pay you give your employees for the services they perform for your business.
*Retirement Plans - Retirement plans are savings plans that offer you tax advantages to set aside money for your own, and your employees', retirement.
*Rent Expense - Rent is any amount you pay for the use of property you do not own. In general, you can deduct rent as an expense only if the rent is for property you use in your trade or business. If you have or will receive equity in or title to the property, the rent is not deductible.
*Interest - Business interest expense is an amount charged for the use of money you borrowed for business activities.
*Taxes - You can deduct various federal, state, local, and foreign taxes directly attributable to your trade or business as business expenses.
*Insurance - Generally, you can deduct the ordinary and necessary cost of insurance as a business expense, if it is for your trade, business, or profession.
This list is not all inclusive of the types of business expenses that you can deduct. For additional information, refer to Publication 535, Business Expenses.

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