|
|
Direct Talk On What It Takes to Succeed
A lot of the time, especially in my humor writing, I am extremely sarcastic about Internet marketing. I make fun of the hype, the advertising, and some of the marketing strategies used. At times, my readers may wonder if I believe there is even a...
Guide to Life Insurance Terms
Listed below is a useful guide to life insurance terms. It is a list of definitions of life insurance terms that may or may not be familiar to you. Accelerated Benefit Provision A provision in many new policies which will allow the policy owner...
PR Where it Matters Most
What’s more crucial to the success of a business, non-profit or association than its most important outside audiences and stakeholders?
Nothing.
Those stakeholder behaviors directly impact virtually every management and operating...
Seecrets on Investment: Tired of making huge losses in the stock market – Part 1
Fundamental analysis. Fundamentals analysis says the best way to predict the future trends of a stock is to understand the financial figures of the underlying company. The fundamental analyst would calculate a theoretical value of the company using...
The Origin of America's Corporate Elite (BC)
Ephesus had a shrine to the Anatolian mother-goddess and the Cretan Lady of Wild Things that was later incorporated into the Greek worship of Artemis. (33) This magnificent statue has many 'cosmic eggs' on it that are extremely relevant to the...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
How To Drive The IRS Crazy
Looking for an easy way to increase your business deductions? Look no further than your driveway.
First, the general rule: your vehicle is deductible to the extent you use it for business.
So, if you drive your car 100% for business, all car- related expenses are deductible.
But if you use it less than 100% for business, do not despair. Less-than-100% use is very typical among small business owners and the self-employed -- you'll still come out way ahead by keeping good vehicle expense records.
For example, if you drive your car 75% for business, then you get to deduct 75% of your vehicle expenses.
Now to the fun part.
There are two methods for reporting your car expenses: 1. Actual Expense Method 2. Mileage Method
With the Actual Expense Method, you have to keep track of all your vehicle related expenses, such as: -- gasoline -- oil -- maintenance & repairs -- insurance -- license & registration -- wash & wax -- supplies & equipment -- depreciation expense (including Section 179 deduction) -- lease payments -- loan interest -- state and local taxes
So you add up all those deductions and multiply the total by your business use percentage, which is determined by dividing business miles by total miles driven.
The Mileage Method works like this: instead of tracking all the actual expenses listed above, you only need the number of business miles driven, which is multiplied by the standard mileage rate published each year by the IRS.
For 2003 the mileage rate is 36 cents per mile. For 2004 the mileage rate is 37.5 cents per mile.
If you drove your car 10,000 miles in 2003, your deduction is $3,600 -- regardless of what your actual expenses might have been.
NOTE: There are 2 actual expenses that are also deductible under the Mileage Method -- interest and taxes.
Now for the obvious question:
Which method is better?
Well, here's how I look at it. If you want to get the highest deduction, you should "run the numbers" under both methods and then use whichever method results in the higher deduction.
You are allowed to pick whichever method you want.
But once you pick a method, be careful to follow the rules on "switching" from one method to the other: You can switch from the Mileage Method to the Actual Method, but generally are not allowed to switch from the Actual Method to the Mileage Method.
Having said that, let's be practical. If you hate recordkeeping, use the Mileage Method. It's much simpler and faster. You won't have to keep all those receipts.
Even the Mileage Method requires some recordkeeping, however. You should keep a log that documents the business use of the vehicle. Here are 3 IRS-approved car logs:
1. Daily Log. Yep, you just record all business miles for all 365 days of the year.
2. 90-Day Log. Here's a little-known rule -- instead of keeping mileage records for the entire year, you can get by with just a representative portion of the year -- and a 90-day period is considered an adequate representation of the entire year.
So you would keep a Daily Log for a 3-month period, say January through March. To get your annual mileage total, you multiply the 3-month total by 4.
3. One-week Log. Here's another short-cut: The IRS also allows you to keep a log for just the first week of each month. Then you multiply that week's mileage by 4 to get the monthly total.
Regardless of which method you use, there's a goldmine of deductions sitting right there in the garage.
About the Author
Wayne M. Davies is author of 3 tax-slashing eBooks for the self-employed, available separately or as a 3-volume set, "The Ultimate Small Business Tax Reduction Guide". http://www.YouSaveOnTaxes.com/ultimate-guide
|
|
|
|
|
Oral Presentation Advice |
Your presentation should not replace your paper, but rather whet the ... Below I consider goals for academic interview talks and class presentations. ... |
www.cs.wisc.edu |
  |
Presentation Skills |
This site contains annotated links to resources concerned with presentation and communication skills. |
lorien.ncl.ac.uk |
  |
Presentation Helper - Free PowerPoint templates, help, advice and ... |
Resources on how to make effective presentations. Includes tips on PowerPoint and topic ideas. |
www.presentationhelper.co.uk |
  |
Neurobehavioral Systems, Inc. |
Neuroscience stimulus delivery software can be used for cognitive psychology, fMRI, erp and single unit research (Windows). |
nbs.neuro-bs.com |
  |
Why tables for layout is stupid: problems defined, solutions offered |
Why tables for layout is stupid:. problems defined, solutions offered. Tables existed in HTML for one reason: To display tabular data. ... |
www.hotdesign.com |
  |
The Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation |
This presentation prepared with the help of Microsoft Powerpoint Autocontent Wizard. ... Permission is granted to use this presentation in any course or ... |
norvig.com |
  |
Presentation Zen |
I love the clear presentation of the ideas in the book and the fact that the ... In the context of presentations, moving info away can help you and the ... |
www.presentationzen.com |
  |
Presentation Tips for Public Speaking |
Better Public Speaking & Presentation - Ensure Your Words Are Always ... On the Job: Public Speaking Tips - Twelve Steps to Great Presentations by Elise ... |
www.aresearchguide.com |
  |
Presentation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Presentation is the process of presenting the content of a topic to an ... You should plan to rehearse your presentation out loud at least four times. ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
  |
OSCON 2005 Keynote - Identity 2.0 |
“A barn-burner of a presentation. I loved this.” - Cory Doctorow. “I watched it twice, and greatly enjoyed it both times.” - Jon Udell ... |
www.identity20.com |
  |
Presentations - Effective Communication - Public Speaking |
Tips and tools for creating and delivering presentations: text, techniques and technology. |
www.presentations.com |
  |
Presentation Information Resources - Presentation Technology News ... |
Presentation Information Resources - Comprehensive presenter's resource providing instant access to up-to-date information on technology and techniques for ... |
199.249.170.231 |
  |
Effective Presentations homepage |
In addition, the skills needed to prepare an oral presentation can be used ... A spiffy presentation discussing Effective Teaching with Powerpoint from the ... |
www.kumc.edu |
  |
Impress |
Your presentations will stand out with 2D and 3D clip art, special effects, animation, ... Slide show Animation and Effects bring your presentation to life. ... |
www.openoffice.org |
  |
PRESENTATIONPRO - experts for Microsoft PowerPoint |
A series of products and services to help enhance PowerPoint presentations with templates and backgrounds. |
www.presentationpro.com |
  |
Leadership - Presentation Skills |
Presentation, PowerPoint, and Leadership. ... Presentations and reports are ways of communicating ideas and information to a group. But unlike a report, ... |
www.skagit.com |
  |
Presentation: See what people are saying right now on Technorati |
See all blog posts tagged with presentation on Technorati. |
www.technorati.com |
  |
Secretary of State Addresses the U.N. Security Council |
My friends, this has been a long and a detailed presentation. And I thank you for your patience. But there is one more subject that I would like to touch on ... |
www.whitehouse.gov |
  |
Rubric |
Organization, Audience cannot understand presentation because there is no sequence of information. Audience has difficulty following presentation because ... |
www.ncsu.edu |
  |
Presentation Skills |
Presentations are one of the first managerial skills which a junior engineer ... This article looks at the basics of Presentation Skills as they might apply ... |
www.see.ed.ac.uk |
  |
|