Comments on: 46 Tax Deductions that Bloggers Often Overlook

By: German Romance

German Romance — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:16:15 +0000

Exellent, now I will get some more money back from my taxes :-)!!

By: bhupen

bhupen — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 03:56:05 +0000

There is a lot of discussion here but no clear answer. Here is a question. What do you advice if your say earning yearly is around $2K or $3K from google. How much of that can be deducted ? Hosting, Domain Renewal, etc is clearly understood but what else? A book or CD you purchased to learn .php ? would that count? Also say your money from google is now combined from your youtube partner program? would the purchase of a new camcorder you did count ? How much ?

Anyone here giving an approximate answer to this question ?

What % of of the income you make from Google can be deducted ? Anyone ?

By: katy

katy — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:43:25 +0000

this is a great list, and very helpful. but here’s a question i’ve been trying to figure out — for my food/cooking blog, is the cost of the ingredients i use deductible? say, if i have a dinner party and cook three dishes, and all three go up on my blog, but are also eaten by me and my guests, are they deductible?

By: Jenn

Jenn — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 22:53:17 +0000

This is a really awesome list. Considering I pay $55/month for my reseller account, which provides the hosting for the blogs I use to make income, AND that I purchased a digital camera few months back, which I use on a weekly basis for pictures, this is a big help.
Thank you!

By: Miki

Miki — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 01:10:42 +0000

Eliza, Kelly would know, but it seems to me that if your blogging counts as PR then it would be a business deduction.

What about it, Kelly?

By: Eliza Amos

Eliza Amos — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 20:06:06 +0000

I wonder how fuzzy this gets when blogging doesn’t make me money, but rather supports the writing venture that constitutes my primary income.

Either way, I’m SO glad I found this. Wish I’d saved more receipts this year.

By: Dereks

Dereks — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:35:50 +0000

It’s impressive how that list may change if you live in third-world country. The fact I live in Ukraine gives me right to cross-out nearly half of that list.

By: Lara Kulpa

Lara Kulpa — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:27:11 +0000

It’s amazing what kinds of things people can deduct! I take the mileage total for trips to see clients, going to conferences or other meetings, and meals where I’ve taken a client out for a dinner meeting too.

By: Super Accountant

Super Accountant — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:29:28 +0000

Wells Fargo has some nice tax services as well.

By: Neil Duckett

Neil Duckett — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 21:54:03 +0000

Thanks for the reminder … tax time!

By: Million$Dig - Free to Join

Million$Dig - Free to Join — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 05:32:09 +0000

Deducting home office is very complex and a big hassle. If you deduct home office, you have to also reduce your corresponding mortgage interests and real estate taxes if you are itemizing.

LLC is only good for liability purposes. Your income is still treated as individual incomes.

I use a few company credit cards, e.g. an Avanta Business Card, American Express Blues credit cards, Chase, City, and Bank of America, Capital One, etc.

Bank Of America and Capital One will send you itemized and categorized at year end for all your charges. That is great help for tax purposes.

I charge all business expenses on business cards and personal expenses on persoanl cards and record them in MS Money. For persoanl expenses, I don’t record every thing, I just put the total for the month, but for business expenses record charge.

Come March, I run a report for the preceeding year. Of course throught out the year I deduct an extra $500 every month from my pay check.

By: Mike Dammann

Mike Dammann — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 04:47:35 +0000

been overlooking half of those :o

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 22:05:07 +0000

fivecent – You’re correct re mortgage interest, thanks for pointing that out.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 22:04:11 +0000

Jeremy – Great point. And see my comment above about other cautions when claiming a home office deduction.

By: fivecentnickel.com

fivecentnickel.com — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 12:38:34 +0000

Marianas: When it comes to mortgage payments, I believe that you can only deduct a percentage of the interest portion of your payment, not that amount that goes to principal. Here again, it’s best to consult with a pro — or at least to check the IRS guidance yourself.

By: fivecentnickel.com

fivecentnickel.com — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 12:36:22 +0000

Andrew/Kelly: I formed an LLC for liability purposes, and Kelly is correct (at least in my case)… All income passes through and taxes are handled as a sole proprietorship (it’s basically treated as self-employment income on my individual return). There are, of course, a number of other options when you start talking about actually incorporating, and your best bet is to schedule a consultation with a tax pro or business attorney.

By: Jeremysa1

Jeremysa1 — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 09:38:24 +0000

Watch out with the home office deduction. In the US, you get the first $250,000 ($500,000 if married) of profit on your house tax free. If some portion was used for home office, you lose that exemption. Given the recent housing market, maybe a lot of people don’t have gains so its not a big deal :( but it is something to think about.

By: Marianas Eye

Marianas Eye — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 05:20:14 +0000

You can also deduct a portion of your rent or mortgage. Take the amount of square feet your “home office” takes up, and divide it by the total sq ft of the house or apartment. You can deduct this much of your monthly rent/payments as a business expense.

For example, home office takes up 100 sq ft of a 1000 sq ft apartment. That’s 10%, so you can write off 10% of your rent/payments as office expenses.

David

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 02:05:28 +0000

Miki, that’s a great idea. You can use debit cards for the same purpose – just open a separate checking account.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 02:04:11 +0000

Catherine, I have corporate clients who claim downloads all of the time. It’s perfectly legit if it’s for business.