Turning Interest Payments Into Tax Deductions

Make interest payments work for you, not against you

You can deduct business-related interest on your business return if you used the borrowed funds to purchase business supplies, equipment, services, etc. Co-mingling business and personal expenses makes it difficult to determine what amount of the interest is business versus personal. If this happens, the IRS may consider the entire amount as nondeductible personal interest and disallow the deduction. Therefore, keep all business purchases made with loans and credit cards clearly separate from your personal expenses. Use a separate credit card for your business to make it easier.

Also, make sure to tell your tax professional if you use home equity debt for business expenses. He or she will be able to determine how much of the interest you can elect to deduct directly against self-employment income.

 

Tax Tips Small Business

Determining Qualified Business Expenses

Be sure to deduct every legitimate expense

Amounts you spend in the course of conducting business are generally deductible from the gross income of that business. This includes any start-up expenses. You can claim amounts spent for items ordinary and necessary in your trade or business as a deduction against your income. Otherwise, the amounts are amortized, depreciated, or expensed depending on the nature of the purchases.

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Small Business Quick Tip

If you are disposing of property used in your business, you may want to consider a like-kind exchange to defer the taxable gain on the sale.
Saturday, 19th May 2012
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Tax Tips Personal

Let the Sun Shine

Certain solar-powered improvements are eligible for a tax credit

You are allowed a credit for 30 percent of certain expenditures that increase the energy efficiency of your personal residence. Costs eligible for the credit include qualified solar electric property expenditures, qualified solar water heating property expenditures, and qualified fuel cell property expenditures. The credit is available for residential energy-efficient property placed in service in 2006, 2007, and 2008. There is no requirement that property be new to qualify. Read more...

Personal Quick Tip

If your tax refund was too high or too low, adjust your withholding so it doesn't happen again next year. You can file a revised W-4 with your employer at any time to increase or decrease the number of exemptions you claim. The more exemptions you claim, the less tax your employer withholds from your wages, resulting in a smaller refund. Decreasing the number of exemptions results in more withholding and a larger refund.