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

[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.