Saturday, April 4, 2009

Maximize your work-related and self-employed travel deductions

If you are a person who travels significantly for your employer or if you are self-employed, you of course want to maximize your tax deductions related to your business travel or self-employment income. One simple and effective way to track your mileage and other travel-related expenses is to keep a small appointment book/calendar in your vehicle and record all of your business miles driven as you travel for business throughout the year. You can also record any tolls paid, meals and entertainment for business purposes, etc. in your appointment book/calendar in order to make sure you are tracking all of your trips and expenses as you incur them. Many people wait until the end of the year and then they end up scrambling to go back and remember all of their trips and expenses and usually end up missing a significant amount of expenses due to their lack of record-keeping. Recording these things as they occur in this simple manner can save you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars during any given year. Plus, this will help you immensely in the event that you are audited by the IRS or your state taxing authority since this is another level of documentation that you have in addition to the receipts, itineraries, employer travel schedules, etc. that you should be keeping as well.

Please visit TaxSmarty.com for all of your income tax information, preparation and planning needs.

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