Ask Dr ElJay (or DeeDub?)

[feuervogel]

Car-related: I had an oil change done a few weeks ago, and they didn't charge me for synthetic oil, so I assume they used 'regular.' Despite the sticker on my engine that says "only use synthetic oil of this particular variety." Will this affect my car in a negative way? For those of you who don't know, my car is a 2005 Mini Cooper S (about to hit 50k miles).

Other:

Can I write my cell phone off as a work-related expense? It's not required for my job, but I use it as my primary telephone contact number, and I periodically send email from my phone (using my mobile data plan.) I don't know what the applicable tax law is, or if there's some sort of percentage-based guideline.

Comments

[luckykitty.livejournal.com]

From what I recall when I was freelancing, technically, if you use it for anything other than work, you can't write it off. Other people DO do it, obviously, but like, if you have a "work computer" in your "home office" you're supposed to *ONLY* use the computer and the room for work, no use for home hobbies or fun or etc.

[feuervogel]

I bet that's nigh impossible to enforce, though...

[luckykitty.livejournal.com]

Yeah! I don't imagine it'd be easy. I think if you were audited they could check your traffic records and etc, but in reality, lots of people write off stuff they technically shouldn't and get away with it all the time.

[thesmallwonder.livejournal.com]

For phones it's easier to enforce, since cell phones record what calls you make, and it'd be pretty easy to discover if you were making non-work related calls.

[feuervogel]

That there's a good point.

[smarriveurr.livejournal.com]

*nod* This about meshes with what I learned freelancing for a while. If you have a "home office", the room has to be just an office. You can't, for example, have a computer in your breakfast nook, or your bedroom. The room might be usable for other purposes, but it should be set up in such a fashion that the primary purpose is obvious, and you're claiming just that portion of your rent (e.g.) for just that purpose. You might occasionally crochet at your home office desk, you might keep your kid in the room to watch them... but if you're also storing your craft supplies in there, or there's a nursery in the corner, any sort of permanent what-have-you, and they find out... you're pinched.

By comparison to the cell phone specifically, though - Internet connections were a slightly different matter - since I was contracting webdev, an internet connection was required. Since the bill doesn't break down into usage, it was technically permissable, IIRC, to treat the connection itself as a business expense.

I don't think you can treat a portion of your personal cell bill as an expense, though - not if the job doesn't require it AND that's not the sole usage. One or the other might be arguable, but "I occasionally use it for work-related tasks because it's more convenient" doesn't quite fit the requirements.

[feuervogel]

Man, I'll never be able to write off a home office. My room is also the guest room and has my workout machine. Mainly because there's no place else to put it :P (Though if I can write off the six-by-eight-foot space under the loft as my work space, though I don't actually work there...)

[beth_leonard]

We have an accountant answer questions like that for us. I wrote off 50% of my video camera initially when I bought it, and it depreciates over 5 years. I don't know about things like cell-phones that aren't capital expenses.

If you were employed full-time elsewhere, and your employer called you at home from time to time, would you be able to write off the phone? I think you can write off things like uniforms, but not commuting expenses, nor the cost of laundering the uniforms. If another taxpayer were in your situation, would you want them to write off the cell phone?

--Beth

[feuervogel]

We don't have an accountant, because accountants cost money, and with my ... inconsistent employment (and the $3k+ of vet bills on one cat so far this year), paying an accountant is near the bottom of our priorities. Now, in the event that I finish and sell this novel, it becomes a different story, because 1040-Cs are mindboggling.

As a contractor, I can write my mileage off. My current contract paid mileage the first 3 or 4 weeks, but refuses to continue to do so, so I'm writing off the mileage thereafter (on my 2010 taxes.) I'm not an independent contractor, since I go through an agency (which handles all my withholding and everything ... I earned all of $6k at that job last year.)

If it were another taxpayer? Considering my phone plan is $100/mo and you can write off like a third of the expense, it amounts to a whopping, what, $360? In the grand scheme of things, it barely feels significant. Unlike, say, private jets.