It’s that time of year again. I rushed to complete our tax forms and sent them off to the IRS in hopes of side-stepping another potential government shutdown. I feel good the IRS has them in hand.The Schedule C form can be a good friend to any author. It’s my understanding that your book does not need to be published in order to claim deductions for your business-focused website and domain expenses, and maybe others. I did not feel comfortable using this deduction though until I had a publishing contract. Since it took ten long years to publish my book, I have a feeling the IRS would’ve frowned upon a decade of author expenses without a publication. With the contract in hand, I filed my first Schedule C for writing just prior to my book debut. Even if you are not making a profit on your writing, filing these expenses is a profit in its own way because of the tax savings.
Schedule C isn’t that complicated either. You can also claim the portion of your home that you use to write your books and keep your inventory. Of course, if your writing expenses outweigh your income, then the tax formula will always result in a zero deduction. Still, I think it’s good to set up that home space early for the IRS to see in preparation of the day you make enough on your writing to collect on the home deduction too. You can write off dues to professional organizations, gas mileage to author events, author-related conferences. You can include a portion for food and drink when you’ve traveled out of your area and stayed in a hotel.
Since I’m talking about tax preparation, I need to add a caveat. I’m not a tax professional or expert, so my purpose here is only to alert writers, especially new ones, that this is something available to you.
So, I’ve offered a little information from my tax experiences as a writer. If any of you have some experiences or advice to share, please do.
6 comments:
Thanks for the tip, Linda. I have only one in the first steps now, but I will file this one away. Or, better yet, ask my tax man about it when I see him on Wednesday.
Helpful.
Jackie
Glad to help. I first learned about this benefit from reading another author's post on the subject. I found that the code you need to use as a writer/author in section A of Schedule C is 711510. I think that's in the instructions as writer/artist (or something like that). Mine got kicked back one year for clicking on 32b. What they need checked is 32a, which says All Investment is at Risk.
I"ve been using schedule C for a long time. I never do the office expense one, there's something about it causing a problem if you decide to sell your house.
That's interest, Marilyn. I didn't know that. That could be significant for some writers. For me, I think this is the last home we'll ever live in, but then who knows. Thanks.
You always have such interesting topics, Linda. Thanks for passing along the tip. Every little bit helps.
I hope to make more money this year so I can take advantage of my writing expenses. Last year was a bummer!
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