Guest Post from Vanessa Lang: Tax Deductions for Freelancers

As a freelancer, it is very important to pay close attention to all of your tax information. If you aren’t careful, you could easily get audited. You should know by now that you will need to report absolutely every form of income you have received, but you may not know that there are quite a few tax deductions you are entitled to as well. The following are just a few of the many tax deductions you may be able to use as a freelancer.

  • Books, periodicals, DVD’s, and other materials used for research
  • Any type of entertainment directly related to your research or writing (golfing for a golf piece, seeing a movie to review it, etc.)
  • Magazine subscriptions
  • Blog expenses
  • Memberships to clubs and affiliations related to your business
  • Internet access fees
  • Equipment (digital camera, web camera, computer, flash drives, printer and ink, other computer equipment, etc.)
  • Office supplies (paper, pens, paperclips, etc.)
  • Office furniture (To be used only for business)
  • Business phone line used just for business (Always remember to keep your business and personal expenses separate.)
  • Computer software (for your business and for your taxes/accounting)
  • Business cards and other stationery
  • Home office expenses (Deduct a part of your rent or home payment for your home office. Also, include water, insurance, heating bills, etc. in the deduction.)
  • Advertising costs
  • Travel and hotel expenses on business trips
  • Health insurance if you are self-employed
  • PayPal fees
  • Annual fees on a business credit card (Yet another way to keep your business and personal expenses separate. Just make sure you are using this card only for business expenses.)
  • Business mentor (Some of these services are paid and some are not. If they do require a fee, you can deduct it.)
  • Clothing (You can’t deduct everything, but if you need to make sure you look nice for a client, you can deduct the cost of a nice suit or dress. Just don’t try to buy something really expensive and unnecessary expecting to deduct the cost later.)
  • Donations to a charity or other charity work (This one can be tricky, so make sure you check out the rules before you deduct.)

While all of these deductions may seem great, it is very important that you don’t try to abuse the system. You should always assume that the IRS already knows everything about you, so you should never report something that shouldn’t be reported. For example, you should not try to report a Rolex watch because you want to impress your clients. This is not necessary and could cause suspicion with the IRS. You should also make sure to disclose all of the information that you are supposed to disclose. In order to do this, you will need to keep all of your receipts handy and organized to prove the necessity of these deductions.

About the Author

Vanessa Lang is an author who writes guest posts on the topics of business, marketing, credit cards, and personal finance. Additionally, she works for a website that focuses on educating readers about factors to consider before getting a payday loan.

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