First, determine if you qualify for a home business tax deduction. A home office is generally defined as a place where you meet with clients, patients, or customers. Or if this part of the house is used exclusively for business purposes. Most people have a general image that comes to mind when they hear the words “home office”. In reality, tax deductions can apply to a variety of places. Your home office can be a garage, basement, or a studio. If you do qualify as a home business, it is crucial to keep all records, receipts, and paperwork that you have accumulated throughout the year.

It will make tax time a much less stressful experience for the home business owner. Do not overlook the small things. This can be as simple as keeping the receipts when you purchase paper, staples, or toner. Any item that is purchased for your home business is usually considered a tax deduction. This may seem tedious and unimportant but nothing could be further from the truth. You might be amazed when all these little things add up at the end of the year.

Home business deductions can be separated into two categories. The first is for Direct Expenses. These are expenses that are needed for your actual home office. Direct expenses include office furniture, decorating costs, or equipment. Indirect Expenses are the expenses that must be paid the entire house. This includes heating, electricity, or mortgage interest payments. You can deduct the percentage of your business expenses from your utility costs. Another tax deduction to consider is telephone expenses. If you have one telephone line, the IRS is usually not going to believe that you use this only for your home business. The second phone line installed in your home is purely one hundred percent deductible. Another common deduction that is often missed is the lost distance charges incurred because of business calls.

Most home business owners use a vehicle as a means of transportation for their business. This vehicle can be used for running to the post office, or meeting with a client. Keep a log book in the vehicle to keep track of the mileage on these errands. Vehicles can be vital to run your home business, and overtime these kinds of charges can hurt your profits. There are many valuable tax deductions for vehicles, such as car repairs and car insurance. Airline fare can be another costly, but necessary aspect for home business owners. The IRS does allow your trip expense as another tax deduction.

Small business owners need all the tax help which is available. Tax deductions allow small business owners to keep more of what they earn. With a 35% marginal tax rate, the government is a silent partner who takes no risk and over one-third of the profits. Tax deductions are neither simple, straight forward, or intuitive. However, the effort to increase tax deductions is well worth the effort. Tax deductions reduce taxable income for small business owners but do not directly reduce federal income taxes. Both cash and non-cash tax deductions merit review.

Cash disbursements can be expensed or depreciated. Due to the judgment required to determine what should be capitalized, there is some discretion. For example, a local gang paints graffiti on a portion of the side of your building. You decide to repaint the entire side of the building instead of just the portion with graffiti. Is this a repair or should it be capitalized? Some owners would elect to expense repainting the entire building. Business owners should seek counsel from their advisor regarding discretionary tax deductions.

Real estate provides bountiful tax deductions for small business owners. Most real estate owners inadvertently understate depreciation and thus forego available tax deductions. The common practice is to simply separate land and long-life property. Real estate owners can typically increase depreciation by 50-100% in the first 5-7 years of ownership by utilizing cost segregation. Cost segregation can separate up to 130 items that can be depreciated over 5, 7, or 15 years. These short-life items typically comprise about 20-40% of the improvement cost basis. The increased depreciation increases tax deductions.

After a cost segregation study is prepared, the owner can “catch-up” previously under-reported depreciation. Another source of “hidden” tax deductions is a careful review of your fixed asset schedule. Many fixed asset schedule include items which should have been expensed or which have been discarded. Misclassified items are another source of additional tax deduction. In some cases the depreciation life for an asset has been overstated through clerical error. A fixed asset audit typically generates meaningful tax deductions.