Tuesday, February 8, 2011

First post--by me

Hello:

I created this blog to alert you about a tax book we published that includes many short cuts for the small business. 

Initially this book was called Your Home-Based Business Tax Solutions, but we changed it to be more descriptive:  Short Cuts for Business Guide

This book is a Kindle book so you can find it on the kindle page, at an address described later. 

Here is one chapter from this book, to give you an idea of what is in it.  Here is Chapter 5 from this great book:

Chapter 5

“I WANT AN OFFICE IN MY HOME”

One of the most asked questions:  If I use my home as my office, what can I deduct on my tax return?

Three examples
1.    Using a bedroom (NO, if anyone sleeps there)    
2. Using a converted garage (YES, if no other use is made of that garage)
3.  Using your kitchen table. (NO, if you eat meals there)

To do so you must meet two standards or rules.    
1.    The place must be your principal place of business – that means that you have no other office you go to regularly.

2.    The office in your home must be used exclusively and regularly for your business.
·        That is, it is a place where you work only on your business matters.
·        It is a place where clients and customers can come regularly to see you and conduct business.
·        It can be a part of your current home or a separate structure like a converted garage or shop.
·        If you just store inventory, then you still can get the deductions.  It must be a place that is used to store that inventory and nothing else.
·        It is wise to have the blue prints of your home available so you can designate on them the corresponding physical area.

If you meet these rules, then you can set up a depreciation schedule for your office equipment like your computer, fax machine, copier and phone.  All your office equipment is 100% deductible.

The carry forward rules apply if you have a tax loss for the year.

Protect that deduction by having a separate phone for the office and displaying that phone number on your business card.

Have your clients or customers sign a guest book or log every time they come to see you.

Keep track of your own time by using a log that accounts for your time every six minutes (1/10 of an hour).

Once you set up your office in your home take some pictures of it and preserve those pictures in an office file.


This book is for sale on the Kindle page for $5.99.  This book is especially helpful this time of year. 

Here is the address on the Kindle page for you to find this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Short-Cuts-Business-Guide-ebook/dp/B001PIIQDY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1297224438&sr=1-1

Like I told you this is an excellent book for you to read. Not written in the legalese of lawyers nor the convoluted language of most CPA's.  Instead you will find this book written in the easiest of the English language. 

This book is great for the small business owner as well as the person filing income tax for himself or herself. 

Steven
Steven Schwindt Publishing