Sometimes, it’s hard for small business owners to catch a break. But, if you made large purchases for your company this year, you might be able to deduct them on your tax return. You can write off expenses by choosing the safe harbor election for small taxpayers.

什么是安全港？

A safe harbor relieves you of responsibility if you meet specified terms. In other words, you get some slack if you fulfill certain conditions.

政府可以在任何数量的情况下提出安全港的规定。作为小型企业主，您需要了解小型纳税人的安全港选举。

The safe harbor election reduces or eliminates yourtax liability如果您满足要求。您可以通过声称合格的费用为小企业税减免.

Writing off expenses

Knowing how to write off business expenses sounds like a job for financial professionals. But, it’s important for you to understand some general ideas about tax write offs.

You know that you have to pay taxes on business income. To lessen your tax burden, you can write off小型企业费用on your tax return. Often, the expenses are tangible property.

Tangible property

Tangible property has a physical form, like a machine or building. You can see and touch tangible property, and it takes up space at your business. Since tangible property adds to your business’s value, it’s an asset.

Some有形资产are long term, meaning you will use them for more than one year. Long-term, tangible assetsdepreciate, meaning they lose value over time. Unlike deducting the entire cost of an item, you can write off depreciable property for several years by using4562年形成.

注销费用的方法

There are two major methods for writing off tangible property. The method you use depends on the IRS’s rules about tangible property regulations, the kind of asset, and the cost. The two methods are deducting and capitalizing expenses.

扣除费用

To deduct an expense, subtract all or part of the item’s cost from your tax liability. The IRS sets rules that say which items are deductible and how you calculate the amount of each deduction. Deducting is also called expensing.

Capitalizing expenses

Usually, with long-term assets, you should delay recognizing the expense on your tax return. You can delay the expense by capitalizing the asset.

长期资产的成本更高，您花了几年的时间偿还。资本化资产使您可以在几年内传播书面物品。这样，您将税收注销与该商品的发票付款保持平衡。

Safe harbor election for small taxpayers

The safe harbor election lets you deduct depreciable property instead of capitalizing it. Though you would have spread the write off across several years, the safe harbor election lets you get the full write off in the year you made the expense.

The cost of the item must be under the safe harbor threshold for you to deduct it. If the item does not meet the threshold requirements, you must capitalize it.

Safe harbor threshold

The安全港口阈值limits the amount of tangible property you can deduct instead of capitalizing. In 2015, the IRS raised the safe harbor threshold.

The safe harbor threshold raised from $500 to $2,500 per invoice. You can now deduct depreciable items with invoice amounts up to $2,500.

For example, you bought a piece of equipment for $1,000. Usually, you capitalize equipment, meaning you write it off over several years. With the new $2,500 threshold, you can deduct the full amount during the current year.

为什么较高的阈值很重要？

它为您提供了本年度更大扣除的机会。如果您的资金很低，则不必等待几年来注销费用。新的门槛还简化了小企业主的文书工作和簿记规则。

您必须能够向IRS展示您正在注销的有形属性的发票。而且，您不能使用安全港来扣除库存或土地。

You can apply the new safe harbor threshold on past tax returns to 2012. To claim the deduction on taxes you already paid, file an修改纳税申报表. The form you use depends on your business structure.

Section 179

Similar to the safe harbor election,Section 179allows businesses to deduct the full amount of an expense for equipment or software. Usually when you buy equipment, you have to write the expense off over time. For example, if you spend $30,000 on a machine, you might write off $10,000 for three years. Section 179 lets you write off the full $30,000 for the year you bought the item.

How to elect safe harbor

如果您想扣除折旧资产，则必须选举安全港。要选举安全港，请创建一份名为“ 1.263（a）-1（f）de Minimis Safe Harbour选举”的声明，然后将其附加到您的纳税申报表中。

该声明应包括您的姓名，地址，纳税人身份证号（TIN），以及您选举安全港的声明。通过选择安全港，您必须将规则应用于满足要求的所有费用。

您需要一种简单的方法来跟踪费用吗？爱国者的vwin158 uses a simple cash-in, cash-out system. We offer free, U.S.-based support. Try it for free today.