What are you expensing this year?

Have you tallied up your totals for your Schedule C? If not, you might want to consider some of the categories we’ll cover in this quick tax-time edition of our usual article series.
 
Of course we’d be remiss if we didn’t open this one with the obligatory disclaimer: We’re not accountants. We rely on the services of people who are. That said, we can pore through receipts and organizers as well as anyone, so here are some categories to consider before you hand off that big stack of paperwork to your CPA with the time-tested plea: “Find as much as you legally can!”

• Accounting. It’s always fun to use last year’s bill from your accountant to claim it as an expense this year. We’re not saying to rub their noses in it, but, well…

 

• Advertising. We see this one from many angles. As a resource for multiple ad agencies nationwide, we’re their expense and they’re our income. But of course, we need to do our own advertising, too (and so do you), so any outlays you have here are legit.

 

• Bank charges. You can take special delight in going through your year’s bank statements, since they’re arranged by category, and totaling up all the pesky fees they hit you with. Not only can you provide this total to your tax advisor, but you can also get a feel for what you’d paid all year. The bank generally won’t add this up for you.

 

• Books. Happily, this expense is still claim-able, even though hardcopy books are going away. All those downloads come with emailed receipts; take advantage.

 

• Dues and subscriptions. This is where it pays, quite literally, to keep informed. You may subscribe to trade pubs that cover your industry. If you consult, you may need to keep abreast of several industries. Ditto for trade groups, newspapers, and so on: It’s great to get multiple points of view. Added bonus: What you pay for this qualifies as an expense.

 

• Insurance. Uggh.

 

• Janitorial and cleaning. Oooh! A surprisingly good one. That is, if you’re a small shop and have been doing this yourself. Splurge. Get a receipt!

 

• Office supplies. We’re not sure about you, but we can say, firsthand, that our totals for this number have been steadily diminishing over the years. We’re not 100-percent paper-less, but pretty darned close. (Tax time is the one glaring exception.) Nowadays, we’re finding more expense-able items in a categories such as…

 

• Website hosting fees and online storage. These are categories that didn’t even exist back in the day. Today, they’re ubiquitous. And if you’re still riding that free trial version of Dropbox, for goodness’ sake, pay for the real deal.

 

• Printing. Here’s another one which, like postage, is going away fast. Now if you’re doing mailers and attending trade shows, you’ll still pay your fair share of both. But we’d wager they’re not, proportionally, what they used to be, in terms of your ad-spend.

 

• Telephone. This expense used to vary with the amount of “long distance calls” you placed. Today, it varies with the amount of roaming you do, or data you download on the road. Either way, this is a standard business expense.

 

• Other stuff. There are lots of additional categories you should consider, including things like computer supplies and updates, continuing education (classes, seminars), holiday and thank-you cards, and so on.

 
How can you come out ahead?
 
As we’d mentioned at the outset of this article, we’re not accountants. Once you gather up your info, do like we do, hand it off to the pros.
 
That said, there are ways we can help you save. If you’re investing too much time, money, or effort in your marketing, writing, or creative services, let us help. You’ll find that our work is first-rate, our service is cheerful, and our rates are hardly (*groan*) taxing. Contact us today. 

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