Question:
I have a sole-owned and operated LLC for stock trading. In normal jobs you can deduct traveling expenses (gas expenses etc.) for business purposes, but I would like to know this : Can I deduct going to the library and other educational facilities for business use and business education on my tax return if I go there often every week for the purpose? What kind of proof would I need to claim this? Just my own calculations? Thanks for your time!
Answers:
if it's necessary to run your business that you go to the library (which I can see that that would possibly be needed. You can do research at the library, get articles, look up stock quotes in past newspapers, etc.) What you would need to keep track of in that case would be your mileage to/from the library and your place of business. You have the choice of taking either actual expenses (gasoline, auto insurance, auto repairs, motor vehicle excise taxes, auto loan interest, registrations, cost of purchasing the vehicle, etc.) or mileage, which for 2007 is 48.5 cents per mile. Either way you can only deduct the % of your expenses that are business related. Say your total mileage for the year is 20,000 miles and your business miles back and forth to the library is 1,000 miles. Your business use % would be 5% (1,000 business miles/20,000 total miles). If you took mileage your auto expense would be $485 (1,000 business miles x .485 per mile) (if you use mileage the irs also lets you deduct motor vehicle excise taxes and auto loan interest, but only to the business use %). If you used actual your allowable auto expenses would be 5% of your total auto expenses for the year. It's generally easier to take the mileage. What you should have is some kind of log-book for each day of the year that you write down your business mileage into. Also, you should write down what your mileage is on Jan 01 and Dec 31 of each year. That way you know the total mileage driven for the year, and the log book has your business miles driven for each year.
I've attached a link to irs info on business expenses.
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