IRS Publications 334 and 552 will get you started.

Nolo Press (www.nolo.com) has cheap, reliable books.

_Keeping Good Records_ by Holmes Crouch is good to read.
Good luck to you on your enterprise.

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<squash[at]peoriadesignweb.com> wrote:

- quote -

I would keep the receipts, and attach them to the credit
card statements that correspond with the charge. You should
also record the business purpose of the expense. This would
be a minimum, but would go a long way if you should be
audited. I would also open a bank account used only for
business deposits and payments.

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<squash[at]peoriadesignweb.com> wrote
- quote -

Some classic Led Zeppelin LPs...............but I digress.

Yes, you'll need "good" receipts to support your deductions.
In practice, keep everything. In reality, if you are
missing a few receipts, and I mean just a few, the auditor
will let you slide. The most meticulous records should be
kept for meals and entertainment, travel, fixed assets, and
auto expenses.

Other than those, most everything else speaks for itself.

Oh yeah, credit card statements are insufficient on their
own to prove an item charged is business related. So keep
the receipt.

--
Paul A. Thomas, CPA
Athens, Georgia

<< -------------------------------------------------> << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org > << ------------------------------------------------->

I have a new home business selling internet software. I want
to make sure I am keeping "good" records in case I am
audited. My question is how meticulous do I need to be about
record-keeping? Do I need to have every single receipt
(including email receipts) filed away?

Or can I just show my credit-card statement to prove an
expense? Is the objective just to prove beyond reasonable
doubt that an expense is true, or is it black or white?

Thx!

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