New Agent. Tax Deductions?

[luke4275]

I became an agent this month.. Do we prepare ahead with regard to tax deductions and writeoffs? do we use only an accountant that has experience dealing with insurance agents or will most accountants be able to handle this? what are some great deductions and what can I do today, from my first day, to get the most deductions i can? thanks

 

[DHK]

Re: New Agent.. Tax Deductions???

Deductions only matter when you have income.

Don't worry about deductions. Just save all your receipts for business purposes.

Your only job for a few years is generating revenue and building a clientele.

 

[Norwayguy]

Re: New Agent.. Tax Deductions???

Focus on building your income. Most tax preparers will experience with self employed people should be able to handle your taxes. Matter of fact it isn't too difficult. You want to keep track of your expenses and mileage (if you go F2F this might be your largest expense).

 

[WinoBlues]

Re: New Agent.. Tax Deductions???

IMO,

First keep ALL receipts. Gas, office supplies, Burger King.
I would recommend using someone that works with independent contractors and small businesses.

Note: watch your spending. Just because you can write it off is not a reason to buy it. Worry more about the write ons, than the write offs.

EDIT: Post crossed, So what they said.

 

[Franz Kafka]

Just watch these 3 things:

- Every write-off that exceeds certain percentage of the revenue gets flagged (your CPA knows the flagline). If you expect to get flagged, keep all hand-written records (not just receipts). If you keep within the flagline, you don't have to keep anything.

- Keep your year-to-year write-offs consistent. Write-offs that suddenly appear or disappear in a given year get flagged.

- Report reasonable net income. If it seems too hard for you to live on it, you will get flagged.

All JMO