- quote -

You have a home office. You can deduct the portion of your
rent and utilities that is allocable to that space. For
example, if your apartment has 4 rooms, and you use one
exclusively for business, you can deduct 1/4 of your rent,
water, heat, and electric. (I think you can figure it
either by number of rooms or by square footage, actually.)
You can also deduct the portion of your DSL that is for
business use. If you use it 70% for business and 30% for
personal purposes (by the amount of time spent using it for
each purpose), you can deduct 70% of the DSL charge. As
someone mentioned, you can't deduct your first phone line,
but if you had a second line for your business, you could
deduct that.

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"George Brown" <geobrown37[at]worldnet.att.net> wrote:
- quote -

On the other hand, one needs to wonder about things like
"Where can I find Form XX?" If you went to the trouble of
finding this newsgroup, seems to be a 10 second Google
search would have provided the answer of the least likeliest
of websites, the IRS site.

--
David M. Woods, EA
Boston, MA 02109

Postings here are general information only and not to be
relied upon as advice.

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- quote -

My apartment has 1 bedroom. I use this room exclusively for
my business. I don't use it for anything else (i use the
living room for personal things..entertainment,
bed.....closet space)

Thanks,
Paul

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Thank you for your "advise" and witty reply.
I ask such a simple question because of the fact that not
only this is my first time filing for sole-proprietor taxes,
but any kind of taxes period. I'm 18 years old.

Thank you

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nobody wrote:

- quote -

One quick question: Do you have a separate room used for
the business, dedicated to the business only? And if so,
do you use that room for ANYTHING else?

Cheer$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA in LA

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nuker[at]hotmail.com (nobody) wrote:

- quote -

If you meet the qualifications for a "home office"
(basically, there is a well-defined area of your apartment
that you use regularly and exclusively for business), you
can pro-rate rent and most utilities. Computing equipment
that you use exclusively in your business, in your home
office, isn't subject to the restrictive rules on "listed
property". Travel to local customer sites is deductible
business travel.

If you don't meet the home office qualifications (for
example, if you use the same office space to run your
business and pay your personal bills, or if you use your
business computer to review your investments on-line), none
of your rent or utilities is deductible, your computing
equipment is listed property, and your local travel is
non-deductible commuting.

You can't pro-rate your first telephone line, even if you
have a home office, but you can deduct toll charges for
business calls. If you have a mixed-use DSL line as your
second line, I'd feel safe in pro-rating it.

--
Chris Green

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nobody wrote:

- quote -

What's "advise" (as a noun)?

See form 8829. However, if you have to ask such a simple
question, please also consider how easily it is for you to
screw up your taxes.....

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nuker[at]hotmail.com (nobody) writes:

- quote -

Perhaps you may deduct your office in home expense, if you
have space exclusively devoted to the operation of your
business. Any expense necessary to the production of your
income is deductible. You may download a copy of Schedule C
(Form 1040) "Profit or Loss from Business" at
http://www.irs. gov On that form, you'll find categories of
expense. If something specific to your operation is not
listed, you may create categories of your own.

You may also download Form 8829 which is used to calculate
deduciblet Office in Home Expense.

"Jack" - John H. Fisher - TaxService[at]aol.com
Philadelphia, Pa - Atlantic City, NJ - West Wildwood, NJ
My Newsgroups & Boards at: http://members.aol.com/TaxService/index.html

Where Ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise!=

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I will be filing as a sole proprioter. I operate my own
internet business from my apartment. My question is this -
can i deduct some of the price of my rent, electric bill,
telephone bill, or any other misc items? What else could I
consider deducting? I know i can deduct my computer and
printer, and probably my dsl service.

Any advise is appreciated!
Thanks,
Paul

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