As we all know, it’s that dreaded time of the year-Tax time!
In honor of tax season, I have a series called “Ask An Accountant”. Simply send in your tax questions each week to and I will post the question and give an answer from an experienced accountant.
My husband often gets asked about blogger expenses so he has made a sheet of common blogger expenses. Keep in mind this is not an all inclusive list, simply a starting point when preparing your tax information. If you have any further questions, please feel free to email me.
Common Blogger Expenses:
Website Maintenance: any and all site related maintenance to include domain registrations, design, set up fees, monthly fees to maintain, add ons, plug-ins, phone apps, etc…
Subcontractors: any payments to outside persons (not employees) for services rendered in relation to posting on the site
Advertising & Giveaways: any costs to advertise the website, business cards, linkys, your contribution to giveaways.
Bank Fees: bank service charges, credit card fees, PayPal fees
Charitable Contributions: donations of cash to qualified non-profit organizations
Dues & Subscriptions: club dues, group dues, newspaper subscriptions, magazine subscriptions, IT monthly service plans
Meals & Entertainment: meals or entertainment costs incurred while traveling on business, networking, entertaining a client, customer or employee. You can deduct either the actual cost (with receipt) or by taking the standard meal allowance (per Diem)
Equipment Lease: Computer, auto, copier rentals or leases, not subject to capital lease treatment
Insurance: Fire, theft, flood, credit insurance, group hospitalization and medical insurance for employees, liability insurance, Worker’s Comp insurance (except 2% shareholders of S-Corp)
Interest: interest on credit cards, loans, or payables
Office Supplies: ordinary & necessary office supplies not recorded in inventory to include but not limited to, stationary, pens, pencils, staplers, folders, envelopes, printer ink, flash drives, canned software
Professional Fees: legal & professional fees, accounting fees
Rent: rent paid for office space or storage
Repairs & Maintenance: costs to keep business equipment in good operation, to include repairs & preventative maintenance
Payroll Taxes: employer portion of social security, Medicare, Federal unemployment, state unemployment
Wages: wages/compensation earned by bona-fide employees or shareholders
Supplies: any business supplies that would not be office supplies
Taxes & Licenses: business licenses, local or state taxes (not payroll or sales)
Telephone: phone service that is not the first telephone line into a residence. May include second line, fax line, cell phone
Travel: all business related travel except to primary workplace. If working from home then any business related travel expenses incurred to include toll, parking, gas (mileage should be tracked separately, as you must decide with your accountant, whether you will use the depreciation plus actual expenses method or the mileage method
Utilities: business related utility costs to include electricity, gas, water, security, internet, cable
IRS Circular 230 Notice:
Any U.S. tax advice in this written or electronic communication was not intended or written to be used, and it cannot be used by the taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding any penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code or applicable state or local tax law provisions.
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