this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2024
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You see US tax law is so complicated and I know so little about it that I don't know if this would work or not. I'm guessing somehow not unless you're rich.
Many business owners that I know do a lite version of this. Going out to eat? Discuss work for 5 minutes, then you can call it a business meeting and avoid paying taxes on the meal. Driving to and from work? Gas is a write off. Buying supplies for the office? Tax free, and maybe some of the supplies make it home with you.
That's fraud. The 5 minute business discussion can be written off, the remaining (let's say) 55 minutes cannot. Maybe it differs where you live, but where I do only travel between work destinations can be written off, so home to work doesn't count. Buying supplies for the office is a normal and valid expense, taking them home is theft and/or taxable
Last I checked in the US, the time wasn't a factor. You only get to write off 50% though - I think the assumption is that you would have had to feed yourself anyway and the extra 50% is the cost of doing so in a restaurant or for the other party's meal.
They're simply talking about what people do and probably usually get away with. I hope no one is reading a comment like that (or yours) on the Internet and then changing how they file their taxes...
Oh yeah, I probably should have specified that it's not legal, just common practice. Tax fraud ain't anything to fuck around with.
Yeah if you own a small business, learning what you can write off is crucial. It takes a lot of the pain out.
But you've still gotta have an actual business XD
yeah and a business is not allowed to not have revenue for over a certain period of time.