Deductions and Write-Offs

Earn tax-free income.

Maximize deductions.

Maximize tax credits.

Contributing to a retirement account – 401k or IRA.

Opening a health savings account.

Contributing to employer-sponsored plans.

Profiting from investment losses.

Check for flexible spending accounts at work.

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Hello Katie,

In order to answer your question properly, it is important to know the tax structure of your business; is it a corporation, Single-member LLC or sole proprietor.

Since we can only deduct the portion of your home that is used exclusively and regularly for business (the rule of thumb for the percentage to be in the range of 5-20%), I would advise you to pay for the expenses out of your personal accounts, then record the deductible portion on a monthly basis on a separate sheet. At the end of the year or on a monthly basis, provide an employee reimbursement report to your company for payment.

In general, the deductible portion of the mortgage, real estate taxes, utilities, and insurance need to be booked as "due to shareholder". Once it has been paid by cutting a check or transferring the money out of your business account to your personal account, you will need to reverse the entry by getting rid of your account "due to shareholder" and reducing your cash balance.

Hope my answer helped.

Hello Scott,

Unfortunately, the value of time or service is not tax-deductible, but any expenses that incur due to the pro bono work that are directly related to the charity are tax-deductible.

Unfortunately, I have some bad news for you. As a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), starting with 2018, no unreimbursed employee business expenses (that would include marketing/advertising) are deductible anywhere on your individual income tax return. Prior to TCJA, if employees had out-of-pocket expenses for which they were not reimbursed, they could attempt to deduct them on Schedule A (itemized deductions) to the extent they exceeded 2% of adjusted gross income. So such expenses were tax deductible, but in actuality, it was still difficult to actually get any tax benefit because you had to clear that 2% threshold and then you still needed to have enough itemized deductions to itemize.

Instead of just leaving you with an answer but no possible remedy, I have two ideas.

First, see if you can get any business expenses reimbursed by your employer. If they reimbursed the exact amount of expenses you turned in (and substantiated with receipts), the reimbursement would be tax-free to you AND a business write-off to the employer. A win-win for both of you and a LOSE for IRS. Perhaps negotiate this instead of an increase in pay in the future.

Second, see if you can create a sole proprietorship (be an independent contractor) on the side with other clients. That opens up the possibility for you to deduct some (not all) your business expenses. It would be illegal/unethical to deduct business expenses that relate directly to your work as a W-2 employee, but you could deduct expenses that relate directly to your status as independent contractor as well as expenses that benefit both activities.

If you found this helpful, I would really appreciate if you could leave a Google review for me (Adam Dickreiter) by following this link https://g.page/adam-dickreiter-cpa-pllc/review?gm or doing a Google search for my name.

Alternatively, you could leave a review on this website by following this link: https://cpadirectory.com/certified-public-accountants/texas/san-antonio-tx/adam-dickreiter/1061467 or searching on this website under Find an Accountant > All CPAs. I am ranked on top on this website, as I have answered many questions from the public, so it’s easy to find me.

Adam Dickreiter, CPA