Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Year-End Details by Andy Scheer

Relax. You still have a few hours to care for those remaining details for tax year 2013.

Depending on this year's writing income, you can still decide if you want to register and pay for a writing course or conference now – and take it as a deduction for this year – or postpone the purchase for a new tax year.

The past few days I've been reviewing my list of year-end items. I just took care of my biggest remaining task, buying the small business version of the tax software I use to calculate what I owe the government for my publishing-related income. And I just remembered that I need to include on my income-and-expense spreadsheet the cost for my subscription to a writing magazine.

This year I've had some help in preparing. In my work for the Christian Writers Guild, I moderated three webinars on business aspects of writing presented by tax expert Gary Hensley and freelancers Lin Johnson and Julie-Allyson (see http://www.christianwritersguild.com/store/webinars).

Each provided a few tips to help me keep my records and to take all the available tax deductions. As someone who attended several writers conferences, it's good to be sure what documentation I need to deduct travel expenses.

The rest of today, as I alternate between writing an article due next week and procrastinating, I hope to channel some of that procrastination time to cleaning my office, sorting through files, and preparing to start the new year.

No comments: