I'm looking to buy a digital camera kit for about $2,000 that I'll be using predominantly for photography at my newspaper job. How exactly does it work to write something like this off for tax purposes? I tried a couple of quick google searches, but I got bogged down in either useless sites or a lot of jargon that I didn't have the patience to parse through. If anyone has useful information or links that they know off the top of their head, I'd certainly appreciate it.

12/28/2005 6:48:00 PM

you arent just taking the standard deduction, right?

12/28/2005 6:49:13 PM

whatever i'm entitled to get. i've never had a reason to try any sort of business related deductions before, so i'm pretty much lost. i'd call the accountant here in town to get a solid answer tomorrow, but if i can get some reliable info, i want to have the folks at wolf camera set one aside for me tonight.

12/28/2005 6:50:52 PM

are you an employee of the paper or a contractor. dont think you can deduct business expenses if you are an employee, i could be wrong but thats what i was told the year i had to itemize.

[Edited on December 28, 2005 at 6:55 PM. Reason : beyond that im having trouble remembering, someone else did it for me]

12/28/2005 6:53:32 PM

Do you itemize your taxes presently?

12/28/2005 8:50:48 PM

^^ yeah, if you contract with a company, you can deduct expenses from your taxes through your "business." your business doesn't even have to have an official title.

you can also deduct mileage you drive to and from the paper for meetings/delivery of materials, rent for studio space (including a portion of your apartment rent if you dedicate a certain area of your apartment to your freelance work), photo paper, film, developing, etc.

an accountant can figure out all the deductions for you, which will cost, but if you're making enough money freelancing, you'll come out ahead in the long run.

12/29/2005 12:30:13 AM

also your cellphone bill
if you make one call for work you can deduct the entire thing

landlines you have to itemize by call

12/29/2005 12:32:07 AM

keep your receipts all of them. and log your miles.

12/29/2005 10:51:53 AM

so none of this applies if i'm a salaried employee?

12/29/2005 1:04:08 PM

if you do any freelance work on the side, it applies.

12/29/2005 1:11:10 PM

well, i have in the past year, but not since January.

12/29/2005 1:21:05 PM

You can still get a deduction for the camera since it is a business expense, and you will be using it for your job. There is a minimum that you have to spend before you can deduct this, but I think at $2,000 you should be able too.

But it is only a deduction, its not a credit. ie, your yearly Gross Pay will be $2000 less, not you will pay 2000 less in taxes. It really won't be a whole lot, maybe $200 or so.

12/29/2005 1:31:44 PM

The question of whether you itemize or not still applies. If you dont itemize and you are a salaried employee then there is no deduction you can take. However if you do itemize then it is a job expense you may take. Unfortunately, it is limited to a percentage of your adjusted gross income though. But you cant take all 2000 in one year, you will have to depericate it over 5 or 7 years.

All in all I dont see you deducting this camera. Or atleast it making a substantial difference on your return.

12/29/2005 6:33:53 PM

Do you think you'll be buying much stuff for your job in 2006? If you'll need something else by this time next year, I'd suggest buying the camera in Jan '06 so you can bunch the expenses and related deductions together in one year

12/29/2005 7:01:22 PM

Quote :

"I'll be using predominantly for photography at my newspaper job. How exactly does it work to write something like this off for tax purposes?"

Calculate the % you use it at your job vs the other purposes, and you depreciate it on that basis.

12/29/2005 7:27:23 PM