just stared a business...need help

[joesbaby]

we just started a hauling business. what i need help in is who has a home business...how do you take it off taxes..how do you show you make money, how do you do anything?? im so worried we wont be able to do it.

thanks in advance
ericka

[terry1156]

A quick question. Do you have any other income besides this home business?

To begin, record everything. For this business, is the truck your using only used for the busienss or also for other things. If it is used for other things too, you need to set up a mileage book that records when it is used for business and when it is used for something else.

Do you have an area of you house that is set asside as an office for your business. If not, you should do this. Whatever % you set aside for the office, you can deduct that % of your mortgage/rent payment, gas, electricity, water, ect.

Also make sure that you keep receipts for anything you purchase that is business related.

I'll stop here and if you have specific questions, ask away

[joesbaby]

ok let me see if i can awnser the questions you asked me....

no there is no other income, excpt for about 500 in child support a month. our bills are about 850 a month.. but that dont include any gas for cars, or for any smokes for dh, or good deals for me..(im a coupon nut)

we live in a 3 bedroom trailer. no room for a seperate office. however, i do have a desk where i do my work, its in our bedroom, and i use our bed alot to keep my papers spred out on.

the one truck is only used for business. my suv is used for business sometimes. for that, i keep track of the milage and gas costs.

we only have 3 workers. my dh does most of the work, myself, and our nephew does a little work.

of the money we make on this, its seprated this way...50% to dh, 20% to tasxes, and 30% to nepehw.

the way we make our money is by going places and removing scrap metal for free from our customers. this last week we have been tearing down an old destoyed house trailer. so far from the outside aluminum, we made $150. that was just the aluminum. we still have to get the frame done too. we also will clean up the wood and things from the site for the customer. but since its not been sunny this week, its been slow going. i figured we have over 100 man hours in the trailer already.

i am very intersted in your help if you would give it to me. you can email me, if you would like or pm me.

thanks
ericka

[crosses]

I would consider charging a small fee for the work. To remove a trailer like that, most companies would charge several hundred dollars. Even if you charge only $50, that is $50 in your pocket and it is still a much better deal than they would be able to get anywhere else.

[terry1156]

I'm not a tax expert, but I do have my own business that I run from my home and have done so for the last 10 years or so.

If there is some way you can seperate your desk are from the rest of your room, you can deduct a lot more. The IRS says it has to be a seperate area used exclusively for the business. If you could hang curtains around or some other type of barier. Then you measure that space and find out what % it is of the entire trailer. Then all the expenses you have for your home can be deducted by that % (gas, water, electricity, etc). This can be important because if your business isn't earning enough, you can still deduct these from the child support you're receiving so that you don't have to pay so much in taxes on it. My guess would be that if you did this, you would pay less than the 20% that you are putting aside for taxes.

I would agree with crosses. You might want to think about charging a small fee for the work you are doing since this will help your bottom line.

[joesbaby]

ew have thought of doing that but there are people who do that here, and we wouldnt get as many jobs as we do now. other people charge the fee, and we get the jobs they wont do. were just trying to get a customer base now. but we may have to charge later.

[2moretrees]

I have a cousin that does a hauling business. You might want to consider cleaning out basements and attics for people. My cousin does this for free (or charges a bit depending on how big the job is and what he thinks he can get for the stuff in it), but there is usually a lot of stuff that can be sold. He sells some at the flea market, some on ebay and then donates a lot to GoodWill (so he gets a tax deduction for it). He usually gets $1000+ in stuff he can sell from an attic. Maybe you can do this as well as the scrap metal. it's something to consider.