Tax Strategies for the Small Business Owner: Reduce Your Taxes and Fatten Your Profits

Other Deductions

An income tax form is like a laundry list—either way you lose your shirt.

—Fred Allen

In the previous chapters we looked at the major costs of a business that are deductible. Here we cover most of the other items (except for wages and related expenses). You can call this the A to U of deductible expenses. (It would be nice to call it the A to Z, but there isn’t a typical business expense beginning with the letter Z.)

For each of these expense items we’ll look at what can and cannot be deducted for the category. The general rule is any expense that is both ordinary and necessary for your business is a deductible business expense. ...