Feeling Better, Baby Animals, Torture, and Gift Wrapping

[iolanthe_rosa]

Feeling better today after a lousy week-end of stomach upset. I had THREE events on Saturday: bat mitzvah in the morning, party at the ever-lovely mirabile_dictu's in the afternoon, and a party at my daughter's stable in the evening! Each one was more beautifully catered than the last, but I couldn't eat anything or drink alchohol. It was so frustrating.

Comments

[zarchasmpgmr]

I'm very aware of WordPerfect + legal. I dealt with it in the mid 80s helping a friend of mine who was working with the attorneys for his stepfather's accounting business. Daisy wheel printers, aligning forms properly, WordPerfect. WordPerfect is a very good package, actually. Better than M$ Word in many ways.

On the tax side, since you're pretty much going to file a schedule C or E (I can never remember the exact difference between the two, as they are identical in a log of ways), it is deductible outright as an out-of-pocket business expense. The only time I think you'd start depreciating is if you consider it a capital expense, which means you are doing full-blown double-entry accounting with assets and liabilities. You may want to consider getting QuickBooks if the business really ramps up (which it sounds like it is).

Disclaimer: I just finished management accounting, whose prerequisites are basic financial accounting, but I am not an accountant. My f-i-l is, though. And Cheri's major is accounting.

edited again

[iolanthe_rosa]

Ah, I see. Okay, definitely not a capital expenditure in that sense. Well I'm glad I bought it before the end of the year, then, because I can deduct it this year.

Yes, I've decided to get more serious about pursuing more work. I did quite well last year, but I think I could probably double my income if I just put a little more elbow grease into it. We shall see.

[zarchasmpgmr]

Are you taking the home office deduction? Because you can depreciate the pro-rated value of your home mortgage. But that does bring tax consequences when it's time to sell, as you have to now pay the taxes you avoided. (We rented out our house in Denver for 4 years.)

I've still got about 4 years of rolled up home-office deduction because I hadn't met the percentage requirements.

I don't know if you're using one of the home tax prep packages (TurboTax, H&R Block), but the higher end personal versions have all the stuff for the type of work you are doing. Well worth the investment.

[iolanthe_rosa]

I do not take the home office deduction, because our office space and computer are a complete free-for-all, used by all the family at all times of day and night, and the code is quite clear that it needs to be a space that is completely dedicated to your business. I'm excruciatingly honest, so I just haven't messed around with that. Now that I have the laptop, which will only be used for business purposes, perhaps I could gouge out a corner of the desk where it will mostly live, and claim that.

We do use TurboTax (in fact, I have the latest version still in its envelope at my left elbow even as I type), and we're counting on it to help us navigate these waters.

[zarchasmpgmr]

Since 1996, we've had a dedicated room set aside as an office for my telecommuting and for Cheri's office when she was selling on eBay.

TurboTax is good for the home office sort of stuff...we've been using it since about 1997. (I think you need at least the Deluxe version for home office/self-employment stuff.)

Linux penguins. Wheee....

[iolanthe_rosa]

edited again because it's really not good to misspell the name of one's spouse.

They tend to notice those things!!

[zarchasmpgmr]

Er, yeah. *g*

My recently-hired co-worker's marriage apparently just hit the skids...he's trying to repair it even as I write.