What Office Expenses Can You Deduct?
Office expenses appear as a business expense category on the IRS Form Schedule C, line 18.
What expenses might you have that you can deduct on this line?
Adding machine, tape
Bank charges (checks, monthly account fees, bounced check fee)
Books (childrens' books, parenting books, family child care books my books!)
Bulletin board
Business forms (contracts, policies, accident reports, field trips, etc.)
Calendar/planner
Cellophane tape
Chalkboard
Computer software (KidKare, Microsoft Word, Excel, QuickBooks, printer ink, computer supplies)
Dues (membership in the National Association for Family Child Care, state and local associations)
Education and training
Envelopes
Erasers
Fax machine
File cabinets
File folders
Greeting cards (birthday, holiday, get well, sympathy - for children and parents)
Ledger
Magazines (children's magazines, parenting magazines)
Notebooks, notepads, folders
Paper, paper clips
Parent newsletters
Pencils, pencil sharpener, pens
Photocopying costs
Pocket calculator
Postage stamps
Receipt books
Scanner
Stapler and staples
Sticky notes
Storage containers
That's a lot of stuff! Make sure you are saving receipts for these items.
To be able to deduct an expense, you must use it in your business. If you use it only for your business you can deduct 100% of the cost. If you use it for business and personal purposes, you can deduct the Time-Space Percentage of the cost.
Note: You may think that some of the above expenses belong on another line on Schedule C. For example: paper, envelopes, sticky notes, and pencils could easily also be called Supplies and entered on line 22. However, it doesn't matter where you put your expenses on Schedule C.
Did I miss something that you deduct as Office Expenses?
Tom Copeland - www.tomcopelandblog.com
Image credit: https://www.freepik.com/premium-vector/office-supplies-isolate-background-stationery-drawing-set-water-coluor-style-illustration_9373716.htm
For more information about what's deductible in your business, see my book Family Child Care Record Keeping Guide which lists over 1,000 allowable business deductions.
