Tax.DNA.fyi

Want to reduce your taxes?

Remember that each dollar you can deduct can save not just the marginal tax rate your are inflicted with for combined federal/state/local taxes, but also the Self Employment Tax.

You need to keep track of your business expenses so you can deduct them on your Schedule C Business Income form! (Or for W-2 income, deduct it for non-reimbursed expenses on Schedule A.)

But Let's Make This Easy!

The idea is to have a paperless, easy, no-cost system for your business!

What we'll cover:

Mileage Records Made Easy!

You could assiduously keep track of your car expenses, but it's probably not worth it unless you have a lot of expenses with a lot of business use (versus personal use) and/or a new car you can depreciate.

All of that is a pain, and you might be better off just taking the very generous mileage deduction...

I highly recommend what I've used for years: MileIQ.com. You'll also download the app onto your phone.

• It's free for up to 40 drives per month (each time you stop for a while, it's considered a "drive", so once a week, I eliminate all casual drives and keep my business drives).
• You can see your activity in the App you'll load onto your phone, as well as on your computer or iPad when you log into your account.
• The reports are approved by the IRS, so you don't need to keep a separate log of mileage.
• It's effortless. It records where you've traveled because you give it access to your phone' GPS information, without you thinking about it (provided your phone battery is not dead!)... You just review it about once a week to add any details to each visit which may be necessary.
• When you enter a drive, you can name the location so that that name will come up the next time you drive to that location.
• It's stored in the cloud so it's readily accessible all the time, and you can download reports, etc.
• Lots of other great features.

Business Receipts without Paper!

I highly recommend what I've used for years: CamScanner.com. You'll also download the app onto your phone.

• It's free, or you can pay (as I did) for the upgraded app (I think it was about $5 onetime fee), you can review features to see if it's worth it to you, but for now, just sign up for free.

You can finally go paperless! When you're finished with that meal or whatever receipt you have, simply write on the receipt the particulars ("Met John Doe to introduce PGx test." It already has the other information you need (location, date, etc.).

• Then scan a picture of the receipt with CamScanner.
• You can then throw away the receipt and forget about it!

It will be automatically saved to the cloud and you can log into your account anytime to download if you wish.

• You can e-mail it to yourself or others.
• You can save to your cloud account such as Box.com, Dropbox, Google Drive, EverNote, and OneNote.

Home Business Tax Savings Tips

Most accountants are not really focused on home based businesses. They focus on bigger fish.

To get some gems of wisdom on saving on taxes which are specifically focused on home businesses:

Dr Ron Mueller's Home Business Tax Savings

He has a plethora of free resources for you to review, as well as paid items as well.

Be sure to sign up for his free subscription at the top right of the home page:

"Tax Tips You Can Bank On"

Deduct Your Home Office!

Review Ron's tips on deducting your home office, even if it's just a cardboard box holding up your computer in a closet!

This is particularly helpful because with the 2017 change in tax laws, you may be taking a standard deduction as more advantageous than itemizing as you have in the past... Yet you can deduct a portion of all of your home expenses (mortgage, taxes, trash, the whole enchilada) according to the percentage of floor space it takes relative to your total square footage.

Where to Go Next

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