In our last post on business tax write-offs, we gave 5 examples of things you can write off, along with providing links to other things you can write off. As cool as this might seem, you might wonder why it’s of benefit to do such a thing, and whether it can help anyone else who might not officially be a business.

It’s acknowledged by the federal government that businesses have expenses they have to deal with. From office supplies to office equipment to even purchasing vehicles in some cases, it can be fairly expensive to run a business.

We all hope to run our business as some kind of profit, but that’s not always the case. There are times when your expenses outweigh what you made, or times when you didn’t make enough to have to make a tax payment.

However, if you reported something like $10,000 as income, you’d have to pay something on that unless you could show that you had to pay something to try to keep the business going. So you have things like mileage, depreciation on office equipment, advertising costs, and even buying new stuff here and there that counts as write offs, as long as they impacted your business in some fashion.

Much of it counts as a one-to-one event. So if you paid $500 for a computer, you get to write off $500 on your taxes. That’s a great benefit because the government is trying to encourage you to do anything you can to improve your business. Everything doesn’t go that way though. Meal costs, whether you’re entertaining or are eating meals while out of town on business, only get you a 50% discount. Still, it all adds up.

Of course, not everything will be counted at 100%, even though I pulled out meals. If you have a home office you only get to write off a portion of that for business based on the square footage of your home and your office. If you pay for maid service or for someone to cut your lawn, the same type of thing applies.

It can get really complicated, and most people have no real idea of all the types of things they can write off to bring their tax liability down. That’s why it’s a good thing to have a tax accountant to help you figure it all out.

By the way, there’s no shame in having your business being run at a loss; that’s how many large corporations end up getting refunds every year, even those making billions. It’s all in keeping great records and finding ways to build up the expenses at the same time you’re increasing your revenue. A good accountant will help you do all of that.