tiffcady

Is the following method sufficient in order to record expenses each month and deduct for taxes at end of year when it comes to business travel in my car?

I keep an Excel spreadsheet listing the columns: Date, Client/Vendor, Description, Mileage.

Sometimes it is 50 miles in the mileage column because I visit the client daily every weekday and it is 5 miles away, so 10 miles per day for 5 days. It is ok to record the trips together like that?

Does it HAVE to be a mileage log book you write down right in your car each time you drive?

I can do it this way because I always check the mileage of each client because I charge a mileage fee if over 5 miles. I always know the mileage to my clients homes so even if I run personal errands on the way I know exactly how many of my miles are business miles and many of my clients are repeat daily customers so the mileage never changes. If I make trips to buy business supplies I always log those right away in my spreadsheet. Is this sufficient incase I am ever audited?

I started my own pet sitting and mobile grooming business and formed an llc. I visit 1 to 10 clients a day. I often go home and work there between clients. I drive 1000 business miles a month on avg. I heard my beginning trip leaving my home and last trip of day returning are considered commuting and not expensed but what about going home in between? And is it ok to makt that 1st and last trip closest to home clients si I can expense the most miles? Where can I read about this? Thanks

I've started a successful pet sitting and dog walking business. I formed an llc. many of my dog walking business are mid day clustered around lunchtime. I often leave well before lunch time and don't get home until well after lunchtime. I am not usually close to home enough to drop in and grab a bite and my jobs are time sensative. it is difficult to keep or heat a lunch in a car in hot texas heat.I also sometimes plan to go home for lunch then get a call from another client who needs me now and then I am forced to grab a bite on the road or go hungry. How does one determine if getting a wrap or taco or burger to eat while I drive is a business expense? thanks.

I am not into accounting and need help. I started my own mobile pet sitting and grooming business last year and need to figure out how to calculate my gross and net income and learn exactly what they mean too. I also need to know more specifically - if I drive to my client's site for jobs mainly and work out of my home other than that, is my gas a monthly business expense? Do I figure exactly how many miles I drive to clients and to buy business supplies too, then multiply the miles I get per gallon average, and average the gas per gallon price, and deduct that from my gross along with expenses like printing, office supplies? If I use my car so much and work in my home, can my car payment, insurance utilities and internet connection be counted as business expenses too? I am aware I may need to proportion them to leave out personal use and that I can take them as a tax deduction in proportion at the end of the year. I want to know if my monthly reporting of profit,loss,income,expenses should also show these items? Can I just use the tax deduction amount per gallon when doing this too, the one from the IRS to use for tax deductions which is .51c this year.

I am sure if I rented an office I would put in an expense line item of the full amounts for rent/util/repairs made each month, so it seems I should be able to do the same if I do business in my home instead. Can someone point me to some written rules for this that are not related to taxes but instead to how to make a General Ledger type balance sheet for each month?

I do do some grooming in my home and I have a room in my home that is ONLY used for grooming even.

I am about to move and then I will not have a room in the house only for grooming but I will use the garage only for grooming (and storage of personal items). Does that also count as using a room only for business?

I am renting the house specifically because of the size and convenience of the garage for business use.

I use my new $700 laptop and $50 a month internet account atleast half the time for business.

I use my new $15000 better mpg car 75% of the time for business and bought it specifically because of my business.

I want to do this to try to figure what my true gross income is because I am in a divorce with a child custody case and need to show how much child support I need or how much I would pay based on this statement: (we have about 40/60 custody visitation)

"In joint custody situations, courts typically arrive at an appropriate child support amount by calculating the child support obligation for each parent, subtracting the lower one from the higher, and ordering the parent with the higher one to pay the difference, usually in proportion to the amount of time during the year that the child is in each parent’s care."

from here:

http://www.proactivechange.com/responsibledivorce/...

I also just want to do this right every month for taxes and for my own reporting.

Do I need to hire an accountant or is this something I can figure out and do on my own?

And if a car is owned rather than leased can I still claim it as an expense? Or if I say it is a business car, can I use it for personal use? I did buy it specifically for my business, but the loan is in my name, not business name, and I use it to advertise too (magnetic signs on doors).

About 3 months ago I purchased a color laser printer for my start up at home business of pet sitting and dog walking in Northwest Houston and I spent about $600. I was going back to create my expense and income reports because I have not been doing that and I can not find that receipt any where! ARRG! I bought it with my VISA Debit Card so I can probably see the purchase on my online bank records but it will not say "printer" - it will say Office Depot though. Can I use that bank record as the receipt for my business records and in particular for the tax write off for business expense? Or does anyone know if Office Depot can pull up my past purchases from 3 or 4 months ago using my credit card?

I am President of a 501c3 that is struggling to stay viable. It is my second year as President and last year was spent just recreating everything for the org that was not passed on by previous Boards. Documents, files, accounting records, graphics, logo, banners, etc- and buying new supplies to do community events and fund raisers like a table, canopy, etc. I am pretty passionate about our mission and I put alot of time into the org. I don't expect as much from others but since we are small and "regrowing" from a non-active state there is alot to be done, and we do not have alot of volunteers other than the Board so they have to do the events and operations stuff too occassionally.

In my tenure as Pres, and I am the one doing all the recruiting as well mind you, I have had my 5 member Board ebb and flow quite a bit. I would say every 2-3 months we have had someone resign. Most of them have never been Board members before. My org is not "great" enough YET to attract high level experienced Board candidates. We recently added 4 new member at large positions to help spread out the work and diversify. We had 5 members before. We only have 5 positions filled currently and one of them is MIA right now, and I expect her to resign. It seems like they come on all gung ho and wanting to help and then just fizzle out real fast, within a couple months. This latest member, we even waited and had her be 'just a volunteer' for about 6 months before voting her onto the Board. She used to come to meetings and the week after voting her on the Board she told me meetings were too far away and she would not be able to come to them any more!

It makes my remaining Board frustrated to see people come and go, and know they have to cover the extra work again now. It causes them to question their own commitment and lowers moral. I have implemented new policies like a Code of Ethics, Conflict of Interest, and also a handbook to help people see what is expected of them when they come on, and now I worry current members or prospectives will feel it is too "Strict" or too organized.

I have to admit that constantly trying to find new Board members makes me want to give up too. I cant get anything done because I don't have enough resources (people) and I am always busy looking for more and working to develop contacts in order to find more, or keep current contact interested and involved to be possible Board members. What is the trick? Is there any mentoring programs out there I can make use of? I have never been a manager before, but people always tell me I have a natural leadership personality. I am beginning to wonder about that! The org has come a long way I admit. I just want to know form others who may be trying to do the same...what are you experiencing? How are you retaining Board members and keeping them committed?

Also - how do I get my other Board members to help with the prospecting and recruiting of new Board memebrs? No one helps with this but me and it is ALOT of work!

I keep making tanks bigger and bigger and always get the message "not enough room for prop" in the training tanks, and in the show I cant select tricks because there isnt enough room. It seems to me I have PLENTY of room! I also tried making the tanks deeper.