Tax Deductions and Credits

Deductions for Home Businesses

When it comes time to file taxes, people look for every little thing they can to use as deductions on their tax forms. For many, finding these deductions can be critically to save substantial amounts of money from being paid in taxes and possibly to even lower the tax bracket the person falls in to. For home-based businesses, it is important to know what can be filed as tax deductions so as to save themselves as much as possible when it comes time to file their income reports.

Home-based businesses, just like any other business, are allowed to use normal business tax deductions. In addition, a home-based business may also take a home-office tax deduction (although eligibility of this varies and must be looked at by the individual home business owner). Eligibility for the home-office tax deduction usually comes down to the business falling into one of three categories: the business is a sole proprietorship or a one-member Limited Liability Company, the business is operating either as a partnership or a multimember LLC, electing to be taxed as a partnership, or when the owner of the business is also considered an employee of that business, as is common in C, S, and LLC's when the business chooses to be considered a corporation. Additionally, the home business owner must evaluate whether the rooms being used in the home-office deduction are used regularly and exclusively, meaning they are used often and either solely or mostly for business means.

However, whether a business can take a home-office deduction or not, a home-based business can still use the regular business expenses write-offs. These deductions including anything that is "ordinary and necessary" in terms of the expenses that are applied to the operation of the business. For instance, if you drive a lot out of your home-based business, the car being used and the amount of miles being driven (since fuel is used for this) can be used as business deductions. Also, office supplies used in the operation of the business, ranging from desks to paper to the computers themselves, are all eligible to be used as deductions.