any of you reefgeeks tax gurus?

[cabenn]

Just curious cause I thought of a good topic for a meeting and it could include starting your own in home reef business. I'm sure you folks buy/sell frags/equipment so was wondering if anyone had any expertise as to how you could start recording these and use them as tax write offs or if there would be any benefit into doing this?

 

[flying-pro]

I just count all of the fish as dependants, I don't think you can claim corals or coral frags the same though ;-))

 

[FlyGTI]

Ha ha!!! That's great, FP!

 

[cabenn]

bleh,

I'm being serious you guys! I've got no idea on what it takes to setup a home business and quite frankly if I make money selling a few corals here and there it is essentially a business. I don't know how much you can deduct or if it would be even worth it. Since you would have to keep records of everything you purchase for the business like lights, salt, water, tools, fish, corals, etc. But that's why I think it would be a great meeting topic. I guess I'm kinda bad but I never read Calfo's book cover to cover but does he mention anything in his book about that sort of thing?

Maybe bring in a tax consultant as a guest speaker or even someone who has started a home business. Step up folks here's your chance for some beneficial meeting topics

Somethings I know is you have to keep records etc of everything and you can only record a loss for up to like 5 years or something before you can't claim it a legit business.

Anyways if anyone has any suggestions, just keep posting them in here.

Things like this come to mind:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,326630,00.html

Is this accurate? Could you say use your car to travel to and from reef meetings. Record the mileage to and from for each meeting and then use the business to pay yourself?

Wanna deduct your club membership theres another small 20 - 25 bucks. Want to support Reef central theres another $x bucks.

But it is one thing to read it online it's another to actually have someone there to talk to who has had experience with it before to see if it is worth it. Like say Joe Schmoe makes 50k a year he files his tax return seperate from his business?

So say his business he uses his own cash to put in say 6k. Those Calcium reactors and stock tanks are pretty darn expensive aren't they So does he get to deduct that 6k from his personal income or does it have to be filed seperately for the business tax thingy?

That's a seperate issue is filing for a seperate tax id for your business.

 

[csammis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6911199#post6911199 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cabenn
Maybe bring in a tax consultant as a guest speaker or even someone who has started a home business. Step up folks here's your chance for some beneficial meeting topics

I would think that starting a home business is such a niche market you'd probably be better off consulting a tax consultant on your own...I don't think a whole meeting full of people would get enough out of it to make it worthwhile for everyone. As for declaring yourself as a business, I know for a fact that it's a chore, but I can't really go into specifics on it.


edit: What would be interesting was hearing from someone who's done it themselves.

 

[eshook]

There was a thread on advanced topics or one of the forums that everyone contributed to. 20+ pages I believe. Essentially it cannot be a tax writeoff unless you have very good paperwork. The IRS just considers it an expensive hobby. If you were serious I could probably dig something up. Just PM me and I'll try to help you out. (It may be next week b/c I have a large project due tomorrow and I'm wasting enough time just scrolling through some posts ;o)

aah procrastination ....
Eric

 

[Ruman]

There are other things such as writing off a portion of your home payments/utilities for example if you are using 10% of your home for the business you could write of 10% of your mtg/utilities. I'm a Realtor in DSM so I know a few of the nice tax writeoffs, mileage, food and entertainment(50% of cost you can write off). Starting a corporation has it's benefits too as a tax year does not have to be Jan-Dec like a person, it can be any 12 months. Also corporations have their own income tax scale so it can make your taxes lower having a corporation making some of the money instead of you.

For example I also have a company "Ruman Construction" that cleans out houses for banks and does odds and ends work so that income is seperate from my real estate income which will make each one a lower tax rate.

It get confusing

 

[cabenn]

Well, I think everyone can benefit from knowing what they could write off as taxes.

Sure it can be an expensive hobby but take for instance people who sell frags regularly. They invest 100 bucks or so in a demanding colony then sell the frags for 20 bucks or more a pop. That's income don't kid yourself ;p Pretty much every coral in my tank has paid for itself.

It was just a thought if we had more people interested in it. I thought it would make a great meeting.

 

[Pygmey]

Business

Business

Essentailly you apply for your business license. Since it is infact animals you have to be inspected every year. If they feel your environment is not fit then bye bye reef tank...

Well the extreme anyway..

I would never feel comfortable telling anyone what they can or cannot write off.. I seriously would just go check with a lawyer on the matter.

 

[jloss]

I would have more interest in learning how to properly split or frag a coral, than how to write it off...but maybe thats just cuz Im a rook...

 

[cabenn]

Want to know how I frag?

Move rocks around in my tank = instant frags Especially the darn SPS. I wish I could pull all that anthelia off as easy as I break sps :>


Also so it is more of a headache than just shuffling paper here and there. I'll look into it more on the side.