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Saturday, April 14, 2007

Slash Income Taxes by Doing What You Love?

That's right, you can take advantage of the IRS tax
code and save a lot of money that you'd otherwise
send to Uncle Sam by doing what you love.

The secret is to simply set yourself up as a small
business and take tax deductions for related expenses!
This is very easy and inexpensive to do. You can
then turn many personal expenses into business one
that you can deduct!

It doesn't matter if you are retired (in fact this is
a perfect time) or just getting started in life. You
can start doing a business in virtually any niche or
subject that you love or have a passion about.

For example, if you are passionate about photography,
there are multiple ways to offer a product or service
to others for a fee, commission or whatever. I have a
retired client that loves to travel to Italy. In fact
they are on their way there as I write this for an
extended trip.

Wouldn't it be nice if the IRS would make virtually
all of their travel expenses deductible?

There are multiple ways they could accomplish this in
return for a little effort. They could write a travel
guide to the particular region they will be staying in
with reviews on restaurants, museums, stores, things
that are a "must" see or do and other things that are
worth skipping and why.

It could be just published as a $19.95 e-book. Don't
want to write anything? What about organizing a trip
for others with you as their "guide". Simply organize
a trip with friends from church, old schoolmates, etc.

You can either become a travel agent or work with
one to put together a trip making a profit on the
difference between the costs the airlines and hotel
charge and the "package" that you offer it for.

If you love horses, you might be able to offer rides
for a fee at birthday parties or church events.

I could go on and on with potential ideas of taking
something that you love to do and making it into a
business to enable you to save thousands of dollars on
your taxes. But let's discuss how this works in general
terms of taking your "expenses" and deducting them
from your tax return.

But first you have to set up your business. Yes, you can
incorporate (or set up an LLC) and I would highly
encourage you to do so.

In some states you have to go to the court house and fill
out a form known as a "DBA". That's for "Doing
Business As". So you could say... Jane Doe (your name)
doing business as Tax Saver and Associates.

Your business does NOT have to make a profit in order to
legally take those deductions.... but it does need to have
a "profit motive"! Under the IRS rules, a profit motive
is presumed if you earn ANY net income during any 3 out
of 5 tax years.

In fact, your business need NEVER actually be profitable
to keep your business deductions going as long as you
can keep proving a profit motive. Did you know that
Amazon.com has yet to show a profit after all these years
and billions of dollars in sales? But nobody could
successfully argue that they don't have a profit objective.

There are a number of tests or standards that would
indicate that there is the goal to be profitable which
nclude the manner in which you conduct your business,
the effort and time that you can prove that your devout to
uour business, your expertise in that field. Do you have
business cards and letterhead? Are you keeping accurate
records, have an outline of a business plan written down?

Then, you will be able to deduct most or all of your
expenses directly related to your business or "hobby for
profit". If you have a home office, you'll have a number
of other partial potential tax deductions such as: office
furniture and equipment, deprecation, homeowner's
insurance, utilities and more.

Like to travel? How would you like for the IRS to help you
pay for some or all of your travel expenses? On ANY type
of business or niche there are many conventions,
conferences, functions or similar businesses that you can
meet and learn from -- all over the WORLD - that you
can go to.

On any given day there are literally hundreds of seminars
and such on going on. If you are a little bit creative,
you can "justify" why your business made the decision to
invest the money to attend to learn and network with
others in your field.

If you follow the IRS rules, you can deduct all or much of
your travel expenses to get there, your hotel, your food,
cab fare and so on. Where and when do you want to go?
Just look for something going on that might make sense
for your business and let the IRS help you pay for it!

Start a business and slash your taxes today!!

Since 1997, Mark J. Orr, a Certified Financial Planner,
has helped hundreds plan for more financial success
through powerful strategies and advice.

To get 101 FREE Financial Planning Tips and to Register
for his complementary e-newsletter, simply go to:
http://www.SmartFinancialTips.com

This article is free for republishing
Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_142852_63.html

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