It’s that time of year, the birds are singing, the rain is pouring and the tax man is collecting.  Since I have only just recently registered my business I have no taxes to claim except for my 2008 personal income. However, I took the opportunity now to research and ask my accountant what I should know for next year.

As mentioned before “Keep Everything!”. Any receipt, invoice or paperwork related at all to your business. I also recommend you brush up on your organizational and bookkeeping skills to keep a track record of your finances and to keep your paperwork in order — This will also save time for your accountant when reviewing the years paperwork and ultimately save you money from the time saved.

Here is a quick checklist of expenses that you should keep paperwork for, whether in the form of receipts, invoice, investment gains, etc.

Examples of business expenses:

• Accounting, legal, and consulting expenses
• Advertising
• Automobile expenses (used for business)
• Bad debts
• Business-related memberships and subscriptions
• Business taxes, fees and dues
• Continuing Education to improve business skills
• Convention expenses (up to 2 per year) – Siggraph, Spark, etc
• Delivery and freight
• Depreciation of capital assets
• Equipment rental
• Insurance
• Interest and bank charges
• Maintenance and repairs
• Management and administration fees
• Meals and entertainment expenses (50% deductible)
• Office expenses
• Property taxes or rent on business property
• Purchases of materials and supplies
• Salaries paid
• Subcontractors’ costs
• Traveling expenses
• Utility expenses
• Workspace in the home (proportionate – includes rent, mortgage interest, property taxes, insurance, utilities, and maintenance)

Remember, keep everything you can. Your accountant will separate the wheat from he chaff and let you know what you can and can’t deduct in the end.

Next, I found these useful tax checklists for your personal and business income tax. Read them through now to see if there is anything you should look into further or if there are any actions to take now for next years taxes. For example,

Personal Tax Checklist 1.htm – Simplified but informative.

Personal Tax Checklist 2.pdf – Detailed and up to date for 2008.

Personal Tax Checklist 3.pdf - Even MORE detailed, I am personally using this one and cross referencing the others to make sure I have all bases covered.

Let me know if you have any questions. or other information that I could post about.

Regards,

Chad Fox
Visual Effects Artist | Modeler | Lighting TD | Instructor