Official tax thread
- Started
- Last post
- 57 Responses
- doddster0
blimey I've never heard the clothes one before.
I knows its possible to put pretty much anything through so long as you can prove the reason for buying is purely for the business. I know some people who get their tax bill down to pretty much nothing.
worth remembering though, that if you're a full-time freelancer and you do this then technically you aren't earning any money, so it looks a bit suss if you continually. i suppose that would affect you getting mortgages etc.
- j_red0
have an accountant do it.
you pay like $200-300 but they help you with all the legitimate deductions and you can sleep at night knowing they were done properly. Or you can trust jazX(no offense jazX).
- joyride0
In the us if you do work for a client and they paid you more then ~$750 or so they should send you a form 1099, those you must claim. If they don't send you one, your still supposed to claim it. If you don't its still technically tax evasion and still illegal. My accountant says take it and run...
- jakeyj0
so is there or is there not a $600 limit?
- joyride0
income is income from an IRS point of view. And all income is subject to income Tax. Personally, if i don't get a 1099 i treat it as getting paid under the table and don't report it. Its a risk... but almost all my other work is 1099ed so I have to. Thats when the write-off come into play, 1/2 cell, 1/2 cable modem, some dinners/entertainment, bus cards, office supplies, new equipment etc... just keep reciepts
- brandboy0
I've been using TurboTax to do the taxes and believe me, its beautiful.
- mrdobolina0
I only claim what I get 1099'd for.
- jakeyj0
so lets say I do write of my mobile. am I supposed to right off in proportion to how much I used it for work? So lets say I used it 25% for bizness. Should I write off 25% of the cost?
- mrdobolina0
If you are going to start writing off crap like that, I would just get an accountant and let him find the 10,000 other deductions that you are going to miss.
- jakeyj0
yeah - i might do that.
but i'd like to learn how to do my own taxes because I'll be doing it for like the next 50 years. $200 bucks a year x 50 = $10,000 dollars I can save doing my own...
- designaked0
Is it tax time already, I still owe from last year.
- ldww0
i do freelance, but i am also a permalancer. the phone bills were all from before june when i used to use my phone for business purposes.
i only report if i get a 1099 also, so if a client is not smart enough to ask me for my social - then shhhhh.
- ldww0
i DEF reccommend a tax accountant. and also you should always donate something to salvation army. you will get a recipet for "X bag of donations" and then you itimize it with yout accountant to get the value.
also, the amount you spend on gettign your taxes done is deductable the next year.
- tkmeister0
use an accountant. it's easier and can answer all your questions. I used to do it all myself but since last year, i started to use one. it saves so much of your time and you never have to guess "can i claim this deduction?"
also, SEP and Roth IRA is a great way to save a lot of money on taxes.
- jakeyj0
normal people should be able to file taxes. But they can't. Govt's way of keeping accountants in bizness. :)
- mrdobolina0
even if you pay the accountant 200, I bet he will still find more deductions for you than you doing it yourself. If you are going to get down with deducting percentages of your phone and shit.
- mg330
I don't smoke, but can you write off cigarettes as work supplies?
Already did my taxes on January 13th, first day you could do them.
Of course all I had to worry about was a single W-2.
Got my money, bought a couple new toys (Boss DD-20 digital delay pedal for guitar, and a Alesis Micron synth/keyboard)
and am saving the rest towards going to Tokyo this summer.
- jakeyj0
you're probably right mdobs
- bukka0
Well the thing about hiring an accountant is new tax lawes come out yearly so unless your going to keep up on those then hire an accountant they are worth it.
As for not reporting from no 1099, yeah its risky because you still have a paper trail through your banks, it could get found, hypothetically.
I made more than last so I had to pay more taxes, which SUCKS.
- stevegee0
you can do your own taxes jakeyj, just be careful, if you screw up you could get hurt bad.
In the US...
-only 50% of meals (with or related to client work) are deductible.
- Clothing and dry cleaning is not allowed to be deducted
- mileage is a huge way to grab a huge deduction on your vehicle, it's about .38 each mile, and it adds up, all you need is a 'journal'.
- gym membership can be a grey area, if you use it to network and meet new clients
- any deduction regarding a mixture of personal use (i.e.: home mortgage taxes, phones, etc.) is a red flag for the IRS, so be careful.
- any office supplies that might be needed for the 'home' office are deductible, as well as magazine subscriptions, CD's, books, postage, printing... etc.The point is to not show a profit but try to break even with the things that you buy yourself, I mean that you buy y the business so you don't have to pay taxes on anything! Just keep good records!