3 Tax Write Offs for Home Based Businesses

Operating a home business can be a challenge and exciting endeavor. But one of the things you rarely hear people talk about is the tax implications of running a home based business. The write offs that you can claim when you use your house as your home can actually be a great benefit to you during that stressful tax time.

Here are 3 write offs that you can use to get you ahead of the game.

Utility Bills

While you are working, your utility drills are fair game for a tax write off. These utilities are actually assisting you in your business performance and can be written off as a deduction. You must document the time that you are working so you can figure out how much of your utility bills were in accordance with the actual time spent on your business. Electric, gas, water and sewer bill can all be used to offset the expenses of running a business.

Mail and Letterheads

Any mail that you have sent out and the envelopes and stamps or postage used to send that mail out can be written off as a tax expense. As long as the said mailings are related to your business and not personal you can write off those expenses as business expenses. Even the gas you use to go to the post office to pick up mail or drive to the special delivery or post office box can be written off.

All stationary and business papers can be written off to. This includes your letterheads (the design and the printing), business cards, logo based advertisements and pens and pencils should be listed as expenses. Make sure you keep the receipts for all of these to use when doing your taxes.

Home Room

Depending on where you work area is in your home, you can write off a percentage of the square footage for tax purposes. Get a floor plan of your house and measure out what percentage of your house you use for business and apply that percentage to your mortgage payment. You'll also need to know you homes actual value and the amount of time you spent working in that area. This can be huge write off for you during tax season.

These are 3 simple write offs you can use when you have a home based business. Although you there are a lot more, this should get you started. If you want a full list of detailed write offs with instructions, you should go see a tax accountant who specializes in small, home based businesses.