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How to Maximize your Home Business Tax Deductions for 2005
Someone once said, ‘the best way to calculate your taxes is…Honestly’. For 2005, add ‘Smartly’ to that and you’ll get to keep more than you make. This April 15th is going to be the day of reckoning for every taxpayer. If you are smart enough with your accounting and keep your eyes and ears open, this could be your favorite day of the year. Take full advantage of tax deductions due you and you can come back richer from the IRS office.
As a home business owner who has been keeping track of every dollar spent, you can make a killing on your tax deductions with these smart taxpayer tips.
- Jot it all down: keep a track of all your business expenses. Maintaining timely and accurate records is something you’ll thank yourself for, this April. You don’t necessarily need elaborate documentation to do this. An easy and a very cost effective way would be to keep all your expenses jotted down in a diary. It is a good idea to collect evidence as well (in case the IRS decides to do an audit later) like receipts, bills, and statements for cheque payments etc.
- Shop for your taxes: this financial year you will have a choice to either deduct your state income tax or your state sales tax. Do some math and compare the two to see which tax deduction is higher. Major purchases in the last financial year should be crosschecked to see in which category they yield a larger deduction.
- Itemize your deductions: Before you decide to settle down for standard deductions ($4,850 for singles and $9700 for married couples filing jointly), fill out Schedule A to see if your itemized deductions are larger than the standard deductions. You might be in for a surprise. Consider itemized deductions in areas like: Home ownership, charitable donations, Medical expenses and miscellaneous deductions. According to the IRS's most recent numbers, those filers who itemized back in 2002 deducted an average of $19,673 from their taxes
- Go beyond the usual deductions: This year look beyond the good ol’ mortgage interest deduction to save some more. Consider medical and dental
expenses, sales tax and personal property tax, education expense, damage cause by disaster or theft and miscellaneous expenses. Miscellaneous would include job search expenses, investment expenses like brokerage fees, safety deposit boxes and subscriptions to investment publications. Also included in miscellaneous is..Believe it or not… expenses of filing your taxes! This is still not over: add depreciation on your computer and cell phones used for business purposes.
- Entertainment and meal expenses: no…this doesn’t include lunch with friend to swap Christmas part ideas. Establishing the business purpose of a meeting is crucial for deducting expenses on entertaining.
- Transport expenses: if you use your own car for getting about on business, you can claim deductions on that too. Take care to religiously note down details like mileage, tolls, parking fees and maintenance costs.
A good way of finding out what more you can use for maximising your deduction is to get tax preparation software.
A word of caution here: keep ‘creative deductions’ like kid’s allowance, silicone implant etc. out of the picture. It is rather difficult to outrun the IRS, as they have three years to decide they want to verify your records and can drop in for a surprise audit.
Maximise your tax deductions in 2005 with these tips and see all the cash flow back in into your business.
Also see:
http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/30/pf/saving/willis_tips
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/search/story-taxes.asp
Daegan Smith is the Ex-NCAA Wrestler Turned Webmaster of Perfect Home Based Business Opportunities - The Net’s Top Growing Source for Home Business Information.
Attention: Webmasters & Web Publishers Make Money with our Free Home Business Content for Reprint at Free Web Site Content
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| The US government agency responsible for tax collection and tax law enforcement. Includes income tax forms, instructions, and agency publications. |
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| H&R Block | Taxes, Online Tax Preparation, Tax Software, Filing ... |
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| TaxCut Online | H&R Block | Online Taxes, File Taxes Online ... |
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| Income Taxes, Tax Returns, Refunds, Deductions and E-File Software ... |
| Popular tax preparation software by Intuit. Integrates with Quicken, spreadsheets and offers state by state electronic filing. |
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| Taxes & Estates, Tax and Estate Planning Advice - Forbes.com |
| Personal Finance - Get tax and estate planning advice and information from Forbes.com. |
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| Essential Links to Taxes |
| TurboTax Premier For Federal Returns 2005 Win/Mac, TurboTax Total Tax Solution Deluxe 2005 with State Win/Mac, TurboTax Basic 2005 Win/Mac... ... |
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| The latest in tax law updates, news, forms & advice from CNNMoney.com. Includes a refund savings calculator, and interactive tax lessons. |
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| The Tax Foundation - Educating Taxpayers Since 1937 |
| Devoted to educating taxpayers about tax policy and the total tax burden borne by Americans at all levels of government. |
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| Welcome to the Vermont Department of Taxes |
| Welcome to the Vermont Department of Taxes... ... Changes to Property Tax Adjustments in 2007 - updated 10/18. - Tax Expenditures Transition Report on ... |
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| Franchise Tax Board Homepage |
| The department that collects state personal income taxes and bank and corporation taxes for the State of California. Access to forms and tax information. |
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| HM Revenue & Customs: Home Page |
| News and information on tax and national insurance, including downloadable leaflets and forms and the latest news on filing tax returns on-line. |
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| State and Local Tax |
| Piper Resources; State Tax Rates and Structure ...Federation of Tax Administrators; State Payroll Taxes Information ...Symmetry Software ... |
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| Quicken.com |
| www.quicken.com/taxes/ - 3k - Cached - Similar pages |
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| Tax news and advice from Bankrate.com |
| Information on all phases of tax planning and preparation. |
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| Online Tax Advice - Tax Preparation Help - Income Tax Tips |
| Income Tax Tips - MarketWatch offers online tax advice and tips. ... IRS inflation adjustments mean tax break on next year's taxes. ... |
| www.marketwatch.com |
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