Another Tax Question

Aidan · #1 10-31-2007, 06:26 AM

Hey guys,

So I have finally decided that I really need to start reporting my income to Revenue Canada. My knowledge of the whole "tax thing" is very limited, basically all I know is that you pay them in April.....

I have kept mediocre stats of what I have made for income and what my expenses have been. So I decided to make one big spread sheet that I would present to a potential accountant. But as soon as I started to crunch some numbers I was flabbergasted; how the hell do I start this?

What threw me off is that I bought into a partnership about a year ago. So, I thought I'll just write that amount in as a start up cost, but then realized that I recorded mostly everything in US funds!

My question is, what is the best way to present and record your information to an accountant? How accurate do you need to be with the government, in terms of making money from site to site, or just include all your income from advertising, affiliate pay etc. How do you deal with the exchange rates? Would I be better off registering a small business or just record it as personal income......

And basically any more insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

corpfan1 · #2 10-31-2007, 02:19 PM

Same boat.

Although I THINK I have decided to do my own taxes. Then you can do things on your own time and play with numbers. you learn more that way.

I just saved ALL my receipts so far and recorded income from each site on an excel spreadsheet.

I plan to organize all my receipts (business related and in categories) soon.

Then work slowly on taxes in Jan or Feb.

My question is does anyone have a SOLID list of write-offs or can we just start a list here?

haynesey · #3 10-31-2007, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by corpfan1

My question is does anyone have a SOLID list of write-offs or can we just start a list here?

Excellent question, at the moment i am trying to form a list i have some idea.

Domains, Hosting, Internet, Computers, Stationary, Clothes? (meetings etc.)

nirva · #4 10-31-2007, 02:43 PM

I think you'll be looked upon badly if you include clothes as a business tax expense and it may mean you get investigated a little bit more.

You can claim against utility bills but only for your 'office room', ie. 3 rooms, you need to divide the bills by 3 for instance. It's quite complicated for very little gain imo.

Definitely include the big stuff, furniture, PC, laptops, domains, hosting, advertising. They don't mind you writing this stuff off as an expense, but go overboard and they will look into your business and start picking holes.

Meetings/business lunches... sure. Keep the receipts and I'd probably make sure it's not Mcdonalds or a Kebab shop you're taking your clients/whatever to every Friday night

haynesey · #5 10-31-2007, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nirva

I think you'll be looked upon badly if you include clothes as a business tax expense and it may mean you get investigated a little bit more.

I meant like suits etc. not general clothes.

the27offsuit.com · #6 10-31-2007, 03:29 PM

Lease a car and write off the payments , need one to get to business meetings , or drive to casino to drop off business cards

kaus · #7 10-31-2007, 03:31 PM

than save your gas reciepts. I agree about the clothing part suits or not...I think your asking for trouble if you start getting into the nitty gritty.

the27offsuit.com · #8 10-31-2007, 03:46 PM

Another tip get a credit card just for business expenses , much easier to just save a monthly statement showing all expenses .

CasinoMack · #9 10-31-2007, 10:30 PM

You can write off all your ad spend, your corp documents if you have a corp, a portion of your office, but its best to segregate everything from your regular spend. Don't write off suits, you are asking for trouble imo.

The hassle of being harassed by the IRS won't be worth any of the small write offs so keep that in mind. If it smells like fish, its a fish.

If you have a web business anything online related probably won't be a red flag. Like big advertising spending, hosting, domain buys, development costs, etc.

You can write off your accountant costs too. You can also write off your medical expenses, if you are self employed - Keep track of that, because that can be one of the biggest write offs.

I track all affiliate earnings in a spreadsheet, seperate poker on one sheet, casino on one, other aff earnings on other sheets, expenses on one.

Graham · #10 10-31-2007, 10:56 PM

Nevermind...I'm an idiot, question was already answered.

One question... when registering a business is it better to go with a Corporation or Sole Proprietorship?