December is a busy month, full of holiday festivities. And before you know it, 2015 tax documents will begin arriving in the mail! For those of you who are self-employed and office from home, this is a good time to start pulling your deductions together for the year. If you tackle these a category at a time, the process will be more manageable. So, carve out some time this month or in early January to pull together your home utility deductions.
If you have a dedicated office space in your home, you may be able to deduct expenses for the business use of your home. Uncertain of what categories apply to your situation? Let us know! We would be happy to meet with you to discuss your applicable deductions. A few areas to consider that may be at least partially deductible include home insurance, property insurance and utilities.
So, let’s take the utility piece for now. To report this accurately, you first need to determine the square footage of the home office space. Then, you need to compile your utility bills for 2015 and pro-rate each of these expenses for the percentage of your home used for business. Copies of utility bills are required documentation.
‘Tis the Season
Another area sometimes overlooked by small businesses when it comes to tax reporting is holiday parties. Did you know company holiday parties are 100% deductible to the company? It costs money to make money, and holiday parties for employees are deductible.
If you have questions on what qualifies and how this should be reported for your business, we can help there, too! You can reach us for any of your small business tax or accounting needs at (913) 888-9100.
