School/business tax write-offs.?
Hello, all.
I am a college student that will be taking online classes for my core requirements. My school does not provide laptops for this. I am going to customize my own desktop from newegg.com for little more than schooling purpose. I want to know if this can qualify as a tax-write off since I need it for school use. If not for school then for a small business use seeing as how I will be a first time small business owner this year. Since I will be assembling my computer item-by-item will I need to file each item as a write off and not the the entire purchase with what I want in it? Any ehlp would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, all.
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wrong method.
IRS will want you to total up the purchase price of the whole lot into one item ["computer"] and depreciate it over five years using the schedule required for listed property on form 4562. operating and general software included.
then -- the amount of the annual depreciation is deductible ONLY to the extent you keep usage records substantiating the proportion of time it is used in the business [as proportion of all hours it is used for all purposes in the year]. {and then only if the business makes money on paper or meets the three out of five years test as described in the instructions for schedule C to form 1040.}
the similarly calculated portion of the expense related exclusively to schooling is deductible ONLY under the ordinary and necessary expenses of attending -- which means if the school REQUIRES you to have one. specific programs REQUIRED by the school may be deductible like other expenses of attending [if you quality, etc. as per the forms]
if you're getting the idea that you won't be getting much from this -- that's the general point Congress had in mind when they wrote the tax laws.