Can I save the receipts and submit them as continuing education relevant to my food business? I'm not talking about buying books for general cooking. I'm talking about specific culinary literature such as instructions for smoking foods, making emulsions, sauces, pairing spices, etc. I've bought about $1000 worth of books in the last year to read up on how-tos of the kitchen world. Just curious if these are somethings that others have been able to write off or if you tried it and were shot down by the accountant?
Anyone know if recipe books and culinary literature is a business expense?
- Thread starter Sam & Oliver
- Start date
salsalady
eXtreme Business
Write it off....as they are things pertaining to your business that you would not have purchased otherwise....
I'm not an accountant, so don't take my word for it. Worst that can happen... if you get audited, they disallow the deduction. So.. if the $1000 deduction is disallowed, that $1000 will be added back onto your taxable income. And you'll be responsible for $100 additional taxes due.
I'm not an accountant, so don't take my word for it. Worst that can happen... if you get audited, they disallow the deduction. So.. if the $1000 deduction is disallowed, that $1000 will be added back onto your taxable income. And you'll be responsible for $100 additional taxes due.
This accountant would not "shoot that down". Basically, if you spent it for the purpose of making money, then it's deductible. However, I've also read your label thread and if I were you, I'd be focusing more on your branding and marketing strategy. You aren't going to need deductions if you can't sell your sauce.
100% write off for sure. I have already written off a couple. That said, classes may or may not be - depends on your income at the time you took them. When I was a health care project manager I "made too much money" to take the educational write-off. So for courses check with your CPA.
Sounds like your CPA was trying to run it through as an educational tax credit or unreimbursed business expense. I agree with attempting the tax credit because usually that's the most beneficial route but it sounds like he didn't take it far enough. If you had a business entity for your venture at the time (see my other thread), he could have run the expenses through that. If the amount for education was substantial enough, you might consider filing an amendment to recoup some of that tax.