#HOW TO EXCEL IN ART OF DEDUCTION PROFESSIONAL#

Also record the purpose of the errand (mail letters deposit checks at bank attend show meet with client deliver painting purchase supplies, etc.).ДЈ) When you return from the errand, record your ending mileage below the starting mileage.Д¤) Write the total number of miles driven for that errand below the ending mileage. In order to do this, we need to keep a record of this mileage, and this is really a simple thing:ДЎ) Buy an inexpensive monthly planner - the kind with big boxes for the days of each month - for each car we get ours at the Dollar Store.Дў) When you head out for a business-related errand, record your starting mileage in the box of that dayвЂ™s date. Now according to CPA Man, our accountant who is also the tax assessor who plays the piano at the non-profit theater group (we really do live in a small, small town), when we drive our paintings to a gallery, as we did to the Lawrence or when we deliver to or pick up from a show or when we attend a reception or when we pick up supplies for the office or when we mail a business letter at the post office or when we do anything connected with our business and drive our car to do it, we can deduct 50 cents per mile driven.

#HOW TO EXCEL IN ART OF DEDUCTION PROFESSIONAL#

Ultimately, it is best for an artist in business for himself to consult with an accounting professional regarding his individual tax situation.Д«ack to this mileage thing: take note of the phrase, вЂњper business mile driven.вЂќ The information in this article reflects what I have learned in the process of marketing Steve Henderson Fine Art. The point to this article is not, however, that we need a larger vehicle, but that driving is a part of the artistвЂ™s business day, and as part of that business day, the mileage you put on the car is eligible for an IRS mileage deduction, in 2010, of 50 cents per business mile driven, providing that you are not already claiming depreciation for the vehicle you are using.Д«efore I go further on this, let me insert the caveat that I am not an accountant and do not purport to be. The gallery representative told us later that she enjoyed watching us as much as she did viewing SteveвЂ™s work.

Unpacking the vehicle, we felt as if we were in one of those Marx Brother movies featuring multiple people continuously emerging from a little car.

I will never forget the time we packed 25 paintings (and they werenвЂ™t miniatures) into our Honda Civic and drove six hours to deliver them to the Lawrence Gallery in Sheridan, OR. This upbeat approach to paying the piper does not extend so far that you give more than you have to, she quickly adds, and one of the most overlooked, yet easily recorded, tax deductions for the artist is that of your mileage. One of my closest friends is a bookkeeper who cheerily tells her clients, вЂњBe glad that youвЂ™re paying taxes! It means that youвЂ™re making money!вЂќ Backroads by the Norwegian Artist, Steve Henderson

How to excel in art of deduction