Author: Administrator

What business expenses are deductible?

You can claim airfare, taxi fare, rail fare or money spent on any mode of conveyance when you travel to another city to conduct business. If you have used your own vehicle then you can claim the money you may have spent on making the trip. Topic 510 gives you full details about expenses related to using your car for a business trip.

Business expenses and gifts are also deductible subject to limits. These are covered in full under Topic 512 and 463. It is mandatory that you keep a record of all the expenses you incur and put them up for deductions. Topic 305 gives you information on how to keep records.

It is also important to account for all expenses that you have made from an advance that the employer has sanctioned to meet the business requirements. Otherwise this income may become taxable income. To avoid this from happening, you must account for these expenses within an agreed time period; and return any excess amount within an acceptable time frame.

So work hard and be careful about your records. Both ways you could be getting cent wise, dollar wiser.

Scarborough Research on Home Improvements

According to a new study by Scarborough Research, an average of 49 percent of adults in 75 cities nationwide made any home improvements in the past 12 months. The survey results indicate that consumers in smaller markets may be more likely to spend money on home improvements than their mega-city counterparts.

Ranking number one among the cities surveyed is Harrisburg, Penn., where well over half (59 percent) of the residents began a home improvement project in the past year. Following closely on the lead of Harrisburg residents, 56 percent of consumers in Buffalo, N.Y. and Toledo, Ohio initiated a home improvement project.

Other markets that hammered their way into the top 10 include Detroit; Flint, MI; Atlanta; Syracuse, N.Y.; Rochester, N.Y.; Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Over half (55 percent) the residents in each of these markets have begun or completed a home improvement project.

Meanwhile, consumers in Honolulu were the least likely to get into the swing, with only 37 percent enhancing their homes in the past year, ranking their city number 75 among those in the survey. Other large metropolitan cities whose residents performed less than average work on their homes include Fresno, Calif. (40 percent); Las Vegas (40 percent); New York (48 percent); Chicago (46 percent); Miami (45 percent); Los Angeles (44 percent); Washington, D.C. (44 percent); San Francisco (43 percent); and San Diego (42 percent).