Michael Petruccelli asks; Do you have a check list of tax deductions for Realtors?(9)

Michael Petruccelli says;  Checklist of deductions (a)

Here’s a checklist of common expenses for real estate agents and brokers that you can use to make sure you don’t miss any deductions this year:

• advertising expenses, including websites, mailing lists, newspaper advertising, fliers, online advertising, postcards, promotional materials, logo clothing, and anything else you pay for to market your real estate business;
• bookkeeping, accounting and legal fees;
• business gifts (up to $25); 
• business meals and entertainment (only 50 percent deductible); 
• business-related magazines and books  
• cab fares for business travel; 
• car and truck expenses, including business mileage, depreciation, insurance, interest on car loans, lease payments, license plate fees, parking expenses, and tolls; 

Michael Petruccelli asks; Do you have a check list of tax deductions for Realtors?(8)

Michael Petruccelli says;  Subject to some important exceptions, there is no limit on how much you can deduct, as long as the amount is reasonable and you don’t deduct more than you spend. As a rule of thumb, an expense is reasonable unless there are more economical and practical ways to achieve the same result. If the IRS finds that your deductions were unreasonably large, it will disallow them or at least disallow the portion it finds unreasonable.

Michael Petruccelli asks; Do you have a check list of tax deductions for Realtors?(7)

Michael Petruccelli says;  If you buy something for both personal and business use, you can deduct only the business portion of the expense. For example, if you buy a cellular phone and use it half of the time for business calls and half of the time for personal calls, you can deduct only half of the cost of the phone as a business expense.

Michael Petruccelli asks; Do you have a check list of tax deductions for Realtors?(6)

Michael Petruccelli says;  However, you cannot deduct personal expenses. For example, the cost of a personal computer is a deductible operating expense only if you use the computer for business purposes; it is not deductible if you use it to pay personal bills or play computer games.

Michael Petruccelli asks; Do you have a check list of tax deductions for Realtors?(5)

Michael Petruccelli says;  What can you deduct?

There are dozens of possible tax deductions for real estate professionals. Any expense for your real estate business is deductible if it is:

• ordinary and necessary;
• directly related to your business; and
• reasonable in amount

An expense doesn’t have to be indispensable to be necessary; it need only help your business in some way — even if it’s a minor way. A one-time expenditure can be ordinary and necessary.

Michael Petruccelli asks; Do you have a check list of tax deductions for Realtors?(4)

Michael Petruccelli says;  Additional business deductions are worth less if your income exceeds the $113,700 Social Security tax ceiling, because you don’t have to pay the 12.4 percent Social Security tax.