H&R Block Eeegahds

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by eagl
Business expenses may not be a "deduction".  Instead, they are a cost of doing business and they directly reduce your operating income.

That said, if you are not the owner or you're not filing "self employed", then you may not be able to directly subtract expenses from the income.  In that case, you would have un-reimbursed expenses as a direct result of or requirement for employment, which are handled sort of like deductions, but which have other restrictions.

To be able to answer the question though, you'll need to provide more information on the nature of the business, if you're incorporated or self employed, etc.  If you are not self employed, then what you really need to do is have the company reimburse you for all those expenses and then have the company claim them as business expenses.  Depending on tax brackets, that might actually save the company a bunch of money if the company is taxed at a higher rate than you are personally.

Also, expenses while commuting to and from your place of business are typically not deductable, however if your business involves driving to work sites in a company vehicle, then those should be business expenses subtracted from income.  In any case, it's possible that the tax guy did in fact subtract these from your income and account for them, but they are still not "deductions".

Sorry, thought everyone knew, Im a self employed. Small business owner.
Non incorperated ,sole-propiertership Painting WallPapering & General Home repairs company.

To be more clear. And to use your terminology

In spite of having over 7K in the business expences I listed (4K in vehicle expences alone)
He only reduced my income by 3K

According to my rough calculations If I take into account similar deductions or operating expences that I was allowed to take last year.  and apply the same standard to this year.

After the expences I only made about 3 K more then last year.


Even if we went by the way H&R Block figured it and only allowed the 3K he was saying. Thats still only 7K more then I made last year.
How 7K adds up to more then 3K more in owed taxes over last year is beyond my understanding.
And trust me. Im nowhere near the 50% tax bracket.

Think of me as middle, middle class LOL

[eagl]

You can try to do it yourself with turbotax, or go to a real tax accountant.

[LePaul]

Seriously, if you want to make sure you get every deduction you can, talk to a Certified Public Accountant.

The folks who work at H&R Block type places go thru abbreviated training and are basically proficient users of the software.  That's it.

I was taught to have two good things in life (as far as financial stuff goes)...a good lawyer and a good CPA.

And it wont cost you huge money.

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by LePaul
Seriously, if you want to make sure you get every deduction you can, talk to a Certified Public Accountant.

The folks who work at H&R Block type places go thru abbreviated training and are basically proficient users of the software.  That's it.

I was taught to have two good things in life (as far as financial stuff goes)...a good lawyer and a good CPA.

And it wont cost you huge money.

Thats why I dropped the papers off at my nephews house today.



When you want something done right.
Hire a professional.

[lazs2]

dred..  a paperhanger?   hell.. I was a painting contractor and general for 14 years...  musta hung a million yards of 54" vinyl and every roll good made.   Did hotels and casinos and banks and offices and rich folks home.

Hung every material ever made.  

I knew there was something wrong with you.

lazs

[SaburoS]

Drediock,

What was your net profit?
You usually can only deduct expenses against net profit (IIRC)

Try Turbotax. They have a good tutorial that guides you through the process.
If that doesn't work for you, then hire a professional.

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by lazs2
dred..  a paperhanger?   hell.. I was a painting contractor and general for 14 years...  musta hung a million yards of 54" vinyl and every roll good made.   Did hotels and casinos and banks and offices and rich folks home.

Hung every material ever made.  

I knew there was something wrong with you.

lazs

Yup

"A Stroke Of Genius Painting & WallPapering"

There must be. I also do Wallpaper removal. LMAO

But I also charge strictly by the hour to remove any paper and repair and prime the walls on any paper I didnt personally hang. to the tune of $45 per hour.

Learned my lesson the hard way with that when I gave a flat price on two identical bathrooms with  identical wallcovering.
the difference was in how the walls were prepped and what paste was used in each.
Figured I'd be in and out of both rooms in a day easy.
And priced it that way

Boy did I figure wrong. The frst I was done in 2 1/2 hours.
The other they didnt prep the walls at all and used a heavy duty clay based adhesive. And used ALOT of it
That one I was in for 2 1/2 days

now its $45 per hour to take down.
$35 for the elderly

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by SaburoS
Drediock,

What was your net profit?
You usually can only deduct expenses against net profit (IIRC)

Try Turbotax. They have a good tutorial that guides you through the process.
If that doesn't work for you, then hire a professional.

I just gave it over to my nephew which is what I've been doing.
He's a professional and always sets me up right

BTW when we thing nephew we think kid.
This nephew is 40 LOL

[alskahawk]

Take your taxes to a good CPA/accountant. H&R block tax preparers can't tell you anything that isn't on the monitor in front of them and computer programs can get you in trouble(been there done that). Computer programs are fine for EZ form, more than that get a professional. Good CPA/accountant will save you money.

[Optiker]

In 1998 I retired after selling my % in a business I ran for 12 years. The parent company decided to consolidate, I took the money and ran. I had always done my own income tax return, so that year - no biggie - right? Wrong lizard-breath! The sale involved intelectual property, covenants not to compete and intangibles - huh??? - NOT capital gains. Without a clue, I decided to take an H&R Block tax course to try and figure out my circumstances.

After aceing the course and final exam (which didn't cover my situation), Block wanted to hire me - I agreed and spent 8-seasons doing taxes for H&R Block. Admittedly, I was NOT a tax expert the first and second year, but eventually, with the MANDATORY training Block insisted on every year, I eventually became pretty good.

If anyone goes to Block (or anyone else) who's qualified to prepare Federal 1040 with a schedule C (Sole Propriotor) - make sure they match you up with an expert (there's plenty of them) in self employment, and the particular tax situation you are involved with. There are so many different circumstances - what needs to be depreciated and what can be expensed, that only a specialist in that field can keep abreast of what the current tax findings are.

Having been self employed a good % of my life, as well as owning income producing property and selling the above mentioned business, I can attest to the fact that the US Tax code is burdensome, archaic, ambiguous and in general a PITA. NO-ONE understands it completely! There are countless tax court contests each year and the IRS loses a signifigant % of them! Thank congress for that!

Someone said that taxes and death are inevitable - at least we can do something about taxes - vote for a flat tax and put Block and a lot of lawyers out of business!

Regards,
Optiker

[DREDIOCK]

Im for getting rid of income tax completely and just instituting a national sales tax.
Then everyone pays their fair share reguardless of income level.



Just got a call from my nephew with some prliminary numbers.

Seems I will be oweing money this year.
to the tune of $700 to the feds and $100 to the state.

HELL of alot better then the $3,000+ the screwball at H&R block was telling me.

I was expecting to owe something.
Just that $3K seemed way out of proportion from last years income and this years income.

[lazs2]

Yep dred..  I would guarantee that my stuff would stick but not what it was over if I hung over someone elses work.   I used clay based (surestick 111) for everything except the flexwoods.

forget removing it unless I had done the wall prep..  Used alkyd flat enamel to prep the walls.   old school even back then but nothing else works as good.

If you are using a flat peice of plastic to smooth your work (rectangle maybe 4" x 5" and an eight inch thick)..  the first person to do so was my partner in 1970.. it was a chunk of broken plastic mirror from a hyatt hotel he was doing..  never used a brush again.. he taught me using that tool.   Now you can actually buy em.   We hung every material ever made..  we double cut in almost everything.

ever use a paste machine on commercial work?  

lazs

[Getback]

Originally posted by JB66
My wife the CPA said that they all are business deductions.  Except the tools, they have to be capitalized and depreciated.

His wife is right. However, it may be common practice to write off small tools. On the safe side, categorize them and follow the IRS Depreciation methods.

[Getback]

A guy I know went to H&R block and they wanted to charge him 200 bucks for his return. He asked if I would do them for $50. I said no. He wants to claim about 3 dependents that aren't even his and that he has not supported. That's a cliff I stay away from.

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by lazs2
Yep dred..  I would guarantee that my stuff would stick but not what it was over if I hung over someone elses work.   I used clay based (surestick 111) for everything except the flexwoods.

forget removing it unless I had done the wall prep..  Used alkyd flat enamel to prep the walls.   old school even back then but nothing else works as good.

If you are using a flat peice of plastic to smooth your work (rectangle maybe 4" x 5" and an eight inch thick)..  the first person to do so was my partner in 1970.. it was a chunk of broken plastic mirror from a hyatt hotel he was doing..  never used a brush again.. he taught me using that tool.   Now you can actually buy em.   We hung every material ever made..  we double cut in almost everything.

ever use a paste machine on commercial work?  

lazs

Used a  paste machne a couple of times whe I worked at a Hospital.
Nice item But not worth the expence for me for the residential work I primarily do. If all id did was wall paper then it might make sense. but it seems to come in waves. I'll have 3-4 papering jobs in a row, then wont see another for 6 months.
Plus its just something else I'd have to clean

Clay based is best for the heavier commercial paper. Which seemed to me to be more like canvas then paper anyway.
I stay away from the clay based adhesives as they are harder to remove and most of my customers become repeat customers and I dont want to make removing the stuff in the future any worse then it has to be for myself.
I dont use a standard papering table either.
Most are made of wood and I find the paste can be a real PIA to clean off. Instead I picked up a folding 6' plastic banquit table from Home Depot.
Works great and the paste residue cleans up real easy
Hell of alot cheaper too

Most of the stuff I get to play with is pre pasted. I use the paste activator which works well. But I'll keep some vinyl over vinyl boarder adhesive for any of those areas that just dont want to stay put

Did one job about a year ago where the manufacturers instructions were to paste the wall then apply the paper to the pasted wall. I still prefer pasting the paper first.

I've used the plasic almost from the beginning. Figured out real quick that the brush just didnt cut it.

When I can get it I'll take a couple of peices of scrap formica and glue them together and cut them to whatever size I want. If you get the right thicknesses it works even better then the plastic. Particularly in corners and tight areas.

I find Zinnzer makes the best wallpapering primer. Their latex stuff works real well.
Oils arent what they used to be because of reformulation for VOC compliences. and really arent holding up any better then the latex'snow which have improved greatly in the last 25 years.

The only time I use oils  of any kind anymoreis Varnishes over previously varnished stuff. And metal porch railings. And as a primer after I've removed Wallpaper andf prior to painting.
I use the Kills  fast drying (about an hour)low odor oil based primer after I have stripped the paper and before I paint the walls.
I do this to prevent any paste residue I migth have missed from flaking up in the future after its been painted.
I find the latex primers. Even those advertised for the same application. do not work as well as the oil based i preventing that.
usually I'll prime ne day then paint the next with that stuff as if its goig to flake at all. it does it within the first 24 hours. But thats rare.

For Paper and paste removal I dont waste my money on Diff.
Usually Ill use a mild detergent, Mr Clean. Fabric softener, Vinagar, or just plain hot wwater.

I try to stay away from the vinagar as it makes the entire house smell like a salad.

but with Diff. I find if it doeast come off easy with any of the others. Diff doesnt make it any easier either.
LOL