expendable home gym?

[jdeity]

Speak for yourself yrush.

jd- It's not worth it to save every receipt you ever got just to save a few bucks on taxes. That's like cutting out coupons to save 2 cents on an apple. Don't sweat the small stuff. Pay your taxes and don't nickle and dime the IRS.

what do you consider small stuff, a home gym?  not saying that i'm going to try to claim that, but if that cost $1000, isn't that 1000 less money that you'd have to pay taxes on, which is a good amount of money no?

[yrush2000]

You do not save $1000 in taxes, what your doing is lowering your net income which is what you pay taxes on.  Gross income is what you earned before expenses. Net income is what you earn after expenses. You pay taxes based on net income.

[DannyTheGreat]

Thanks for your definition of net and gross income.

How many thousands or millions of pages long is the federal tax code? I don't think anyone really knows, I hear different numbers all the time. Besides that, it constantly changes. Therefore you will never catch every deduction. I'd rather pay a little extra in taxes than sift through tax code for months figuring out if I can write off a home gym. Your CPA will charge you more for making them sort out your drawer full of receipts than you'd get in deductions.

And no I haven't stole a dirty grape from a supermarket. Or let the clerk give me too much change back when I count it.

[jdeity]

You do not save $1000 in taxes, what your doing is lowering your net income which is what you pay taxes on.  Gross income is what you earned before expenses. Net income is what you earn after expenses. You pay taxes based on net income.

didn't say i saved 1000 in taxes, i said that's 1000 less that i'll be taxed on, which it is

[jdeity]

Thanks for your definition of net and gross income.

How many thousands or millions of pages long is the federal tax code? I don't think anyone really knows, I hear different numbers all the time. Besides that, it constantly changes. Therefore you will never catch every deduction. I'd rather pay a little extra in taxes than sift through tax code for months figuring out if I can write off a home gym. Your CPA will charge you more for making them sort out your drawer full of receipts than you'd get in deductions.

And no I haven't stole a dirty grape from a supermarket. Or let the clerk give me too much change back when I count it.

so you don't think it's worth it to log mileage, or to deduct marketing expenses?   i hate nitpicking but these thigns seem like they'd add up to somethign substantial, at least in my eyes (remember that if you're making a lot and they don't seem like a lot to you, they may be to others).  just keeping track of what was spent on gas adn advertising would be many many thousands, if that's many thousands that you don't pay 35% of, that seems totally worthwhile

i'm not saying i'd want to comb those books either, but for things that you already know will work it seems smart to save those receipts.  maybe it's the inexperience talking, but i don't see how you could chuck them if they're worth money

[DannyTheGreat]

Keeping track of legitimate business expenses is certainly important. I have a separate checking account with separate checks and check cards for unquestionable business expenses. My annual marketing budget would probably make you faint, so rest assured that is written off. I have a car that I exclusively use for business purposes because it's wrapped as one big mobile billboard. So I write off the whole car and everything about it. Before I had that car I never kept track of the mileage because it's not worth the hassle to me. I didn't keep track of gas then but now I absolutely would if I were you.

After it's all said and done, taxes for me are pretty simple. The expenses are all kept in one place, Me and my business are kept very separate in terms of money, and I don't reach for questionable deductions.