http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/topic/how-do-you-handle-taxes-as-a-freelance-writer Travel Writers Exchange Forum Home » Topic: How do you handle taxes as a freelance writer en-US Mon, 13 Feb 2012 02:00:40 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/search.php http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/topic/how-do-you-handle-taxes-as-a-freelance-writer#post-452 Wed, 25 Feb 2009 10:49:03 +0000 Amandah Blackwell 452@http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/ <p>Thanks Trisha! I knew it was some portion of your home/apartment your could deduct. This is why I'm not in accounting anymore &lt;img src=&quot;http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/my-plugins/bb-smilies/default/icon_mrgreen.gif&quot; title=&quot;:mrgreen:&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/topic/how-do-you-handle-taxes-as-a-freelance-writer#post-446 Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:40:53 +0000 Trisha Miller 446@http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/ <p>Hi Angela</p> <p>Been there! Having been self-employed and home-based for years, I've been dealing with this issue for a long time!</p> <p>I'm certain that you can only deduct the cost of your mortgate or rent for ONLY that percentage of your home/apartment in which you actually work, not the entire space. So if you use a spare bedroom, or even a corner, add up that actual square footage and figure out what percentage of your space it represents - that's the percentage of your cost that can be deducted.</p> <p>However, IRS rules change ALL THE TIME, so it's best to be sure you're getting expert advice - your CPA is a great start, and it can't hurt to occasionally get a second look from another professional tax preparation service to be sure you're not missing anything.</p> <p>I've also used tax preparation software like H&#38;R Block's TaxCut and TurboTax - both work great and as long as you use the most current version they will find you all of the current deductions.</p> <p>Good luck! </p> http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/topic/how-do-you-handle-taxes-as-a-freelance-writer#post-443 Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:56:27 +0000 Amandah Blackwell 443@http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/ <p>This is your lucky day because I used to be in accounting. I'm totally grateful that I have my degrees and experience. I just got my taxes done for free! No, I did not prepare them. The city where I live had volunteer tax preparation. I went because I was not sure about a few things. Hopefully your CPA will not be charging you that much.</p> <p>You can deduct computer equipment and software. If you use your printer, you can deduct that. I believe you can deduct the square footage of your home/apartment.</p> <p>Second, if you visit clients you can deduct the mileage. I think it must be at a certain threshold.</p> <p>Finally, write down your expenses that you use as a freelance writer. Computer, software, paper, etc...You may want to do a Google search for tax deductions. Check out our page Things You Should Know for <a href="http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/things-you-should-know/tax-issues/">tax</a> and legal issues. When in doubt, ask your CPA. Hope this helped. </p> http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/topic/how-do-you-handle-taxes-as-a-freelance-writer#post-442 Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:51:35 +0000 Angela 442@http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/Forum/ <p>Do you have any tax tips for freelance writers? Are there expenses that I can write off? I'll be visiting a CPA, but I would like have my questions ready for him. </p>