A dozen tax deductions for your small business

Small-business tax rule number one: Don't mess with the IRS.

But that doesn't mean you should cheat yourself. Take every legal deduction you can. Here are a dozen that even savvy small-business owners and entrepreneurs sometimes forget:

1. Home office
Concerned that claiming a home-office deduction is tantamount to sending an engraved invitation to an Internal Revenue Service auditor? Don't be, says Jan Zobel, author of Minding Her Own Business: The Self-Employed Woman's Guide to Taxes and Recordkeeping.

"I don't agree that chances of getting audited are greater with a home-office deduction," says Zobel, a San Francisco Bay-area tax expert, who specializes in serving the self-employed. In her own practice, she has prepared more than 400 returns a year for the last 25 years. And while at least half of her clients claim a home-office deduction, only one home-based entrepreneur has been audited.

The key here is that you use the term "home office" the same way the IRS does. The tax agency says it must be a space devoted to your business and absolutely nothing else. Deducting the den that houses the family computer and serves as a guest bedroom won't fly with Uncle Sam.

"If you only have one computer and you have a child over four, the IRS is going to be pretty certain that the child is using the computer," says Zobel. "And the burden of proof is on you."

The deduction, however, isn't limited to a full room. Your home office can be part of a room. Just how much of the space is deductible? Measure your work area and divide by the square footage of your home. That percentage is the fraction of your home-related business expenses -- rent, mortgage, insurance, electricity, etc.-- that you can claim.

2. Office supplies
Even if you don't take the home-office deduction, you can deduct the business supplies you buy. Hang onto those receipts, because these expenditures will offset your taxable business income.

3. Furniture
When your office supplies are more than just pens and paper, you have another tax-cutting opportunity.

Office-furniture acquisitions provide a couple of choices. Deduct 100 percent of the cost in the year of the purchase or deduct a portion of the expense over seven years, also known as depreciation.

To take the whole cost in one tax year you'll use the Section 179 deduction (named for the part of the tax code where the law appears). Tax-law changes in May 2003 made this deduction even more attractive. For the tax years of 2003, 2004 and 2005, a business owner can expense up to $100,000.

If you choose instead to depreciate the desks and filing cabinets, you can't simply split the cost into equal portions over the depreciation period. Instead, you must use an IRS chart to make separate calculations each year.

Which is better for you? Anticipate the times that your business will need these deductions the most. Both options are reported on IRS Form 4562.

4. Other equipment
Items such as computers, copiers, fax machines and scanners also are tax deductible. As with furniture, you can take 100 percent up front or depreciate (this time over five years).

5. Software and subscriptions
The recently increased Section 179 provides another tax break in this area of business expenses. Previously, a company had to depreciate the cost of computer software over three years. Now, off-the-shelf software a business buys can be fully expensed in the year purchased. As with the other expenses covered under this part of the tax code, the deductions are allowed for tax years 2003, 2004 and 2005.

The rules for deducting business and industry-related magazine subscriptions weren't changed. You can continue to take the total costs as a full deduction in the year spent.

6. Mileage
If you drive for business, the IRS wants to give you some of your money back. But Uncle Sam loves documentation, so keep a notebook in your vehicle to record the date, mileage, tolls, parking costs and the purpose of your trip.

At the end of the year, you have two choices. You can total the mileage, multiply by 36 cents per mile for your 2003 tax computations, and add in the tolls and parking to calculate your deduction. (The business mileage rate goes to 37.5 cents a mile next year.)

Or you can measure your business usage against your personal driving and deduct that portion of your auto-related expenses, says Zobel. Remember to include gas, repairs and insurance.

If you are leasing, include those payments. If you buying the car, factor in the interest on your loan and depreciation on your vehicle.

And if your company's office is at your house, you get a bit more of a break. You can deduct the entire business-related mileage, from the minute you pull out of the driveway until you return home, says Gary W. Carter, author of J.K. Lasser's Taxes Made Easy for Your Home-Based Business: The Ultimate Tax Handbook for the Self-employed

If your business is not home-based, your mileage meter starts at your first business-related destination and ends at your last. You can't include the drive to and from home, says Carter, a CPA and professor at the University of Minnesota. In this case, try to schedule several business appointments on the same day to allow you to take the mileage between stops as a tax write-off.

7. Travel, meals, entertainment and gifts
Good news, small-business travelers. You might as well stay in a nice hotel, because the entire cost is tax deductible. Likewise, the cost of travel -- air, rail or auto -- is 100 percent deductible, as are costs associated with life on the road (dry cleaning, rental cars and tipping the bellboy).

The only exception is eating out. You can deduct only 50 percent of your meals while traveling. So stay at the Ritz and eat at Wendy's.

Once you get home, your on-the-job meals aren't deductible -- unless you bring along a client to talk business. In this case, you might consider splurging on a fancier meal because then you can write off half such work-related dining costs.

The 50-percent deduction limit applies to most other client entertainment expenses, too. But a direct gift to a client or employee is 100 percent deductible, says Zobel, up to $25 per person per year.

8. Insurance premiums
Self-employed and paying your own health insurance premiums? On 2003 returns, these costs are fully deductible, up from the 70 percent deduction allowed the tax year before.

This break primarily benefits proprietorships, but there are limits. The deduction can't be more than your business' net profit. And it's not allowed if you were eligible for other health care coverage, including that offered by your employed spouse's medical plan.

Did your spouse work for you last year? Then, says Carter says, you can get the full medical premiums deduction on your return. As an employee, your spouse's premiums are 100 percent deductible; if you and the children were on her policy as dependents, so are those costs.

Two caveats: 1) Your spouse's employment must be real, not in name only, and you must offer coverage equally to any other employees. 2) Failure to meet these requirements could result in a lawsuit, an audit or both.

You also can include some of the premiums you pay for long-term care insurance for yourself, your spouse or dependents.

9. Retirement contributions
Are you self-employed and saving for your own retirement with a SEP-IRA or Keogh? Don't forget to deduct your contribution on your personal income tax return.

10. Social Security
The bad news: If you're self-employed or starting a small business, you have to pay double the Social Security contributions you would as an employee. That's because federal law requires the employer pay half and the employee pay half. Self-employed workers are both, meaning the total will equal 15.3 percent of your net profits.

The good news: You can deduct half of the contribution on your 1040.

11. Telephone charges
You can deduct the cost of the business calls that you make for business from home. When your bill comes in, circle the business-related calls, total them up and keep a copy. At the end of the year, tally your 12 bills and deduct 100 percent.

The IRS assumes that you will have a phone in your house anyway, so Zobel cautions that regular fees and charges don't count toward your deduction. But if you have a second line installed and use it only for business, all of these charges are deductible.

12. Child labor
"It's always good to employ your kids," says Carter. If you paid them up to $4,750 in 2003, they probably avoided any additional taxes. Plus, there is no Social Security tax when you hire your child who is 17 or younger and you can deduct the salary as a business expense. This break is available, however, only if you operate as a sole proprietor or as a partnership in which you and your spouse are the only partners. If your business runs as a corporation, then it, not you, are considered the employer and the corporation is not relieved of the tax liabilities.

Make the money go even further. Have your child contribute to a Roth IRA, says Carter. Not only have you gotten a nice tax deduction from the salary and trained your youngster to save, you've also help establish a nest egg for his or her future.