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Tax Deductions that Bloggers Should Not Miss

Posted by Manny Davis | 32 comments

Tax Deductions Bloggers Should Not Miss Image Tax season is still a few months away, but it’s never too early to begin preparing the tax documents that may need to file your tax return. While this is true for all taxpayers, individuals who own their own businesses – or those who who have more complicated tax situations – must pay closer attention to ensure that all of their qualifying tax deductions and credits are applied to their income tax return. A growing number of today’s small business owners are members of the blogging community. While some bloggers share their content for personal reasons, others actually blog as a way to earn income. If you are one of those who makes or intends to make a profit, consider the following tax deductions that may reduce your tax liabilities.

Internet Expenses

Since blogs are published online, Internet expenses are typically tax-deductible. Additionally, the following related expenses may very likely qualify for tax deductions:

Media Downloads: If you have to download music or photos for your blog, any fees that you pay for publishing rights are tax-deductible.
Software: Any programs and software required to run your blog
Domain Fees: Includes Internet access fees, hosting fees and registration fees for domain names

Electronic Equipment

If you blog for money, you will need to have your own computer, which typically includes such accessories as keyboards, mice, and monitors. Depending on your business needs you may also use a printer, copier, fax machine and scanner. Cellphones and digital cameras may also be used for your business, all of which may be considered deductible expenses.

Home Office Supplies/Expenses

Small business owners who blog out of their own homes may have a home office set up to facilitate operations for their business. If your home office is used exclusively and regularly for business purposes, is your principal place of business, and is a separate identifiable space in your home, you may be able to deduct your home office expenses based on the square footage of the space. Using the square footage calculation, business owners can deduct a percentage of household indirect expenses, such as rent, electricity costs, heating costs, insurance and so forth. If you own your home, you can take a depreciation deduction (calculation is tricky), and pro rata share deductions for property taxes, repairs, and insurance. Additionally, direct expenses such as cost of your computer warranty, your chair, your desk, that are used in your home office for business purposes can be deducted as business expenses.

Small Business Expenses

Many people do not understand that blogging can be a legitimate business, providing income for one or more individuals. Like any other business, certain expenses resulting from the running of the business can be used as a tax deduction. These may include fees paid for licenses, insurance, accounting services, banking, tax preparation fees and any other expenses that you may have incurred as part of building and/or maintaining your blog.

Education & Networking

With blogging becoming an industry of its own, it is necessary for bloggers to stay ahead of the curve by educating themselves and by networking with other bloggers. Related education expenses – such as classes, seminars, webinars, etc. – are tax-deductible. In addition to education, any professional association fees and subscriptions to trade publications or relevant market research studies and tools may be eligible to deduct as well.

Travel Expenses

Bloggers are now meeting other bloggers at conventions and conferences worldwide. As the blogging industry continues to grow and evolve, travel may become necessary for small business owners to remain current in the industry. Business-related travel expenses, such as rental car costs, hotel accommodations, dining and even some entertainment (if business-related) expenses, may be deducted at tax time. Keep all receipts from your trip to provide documentation of business travel expenses.

Promotion

In order to earn income from a blog, you must have an audience. Any money spent on advertising, graphic design costs for logo and banner ad development, contest prizes, and SEO and SEM services will be tax-deductible. Also, since social media networks have become hugely popular as a way to connect with a blog’s audience, many bloggers hire experts to manage their social media networks. The cost of hiring any of these consultants is a tax deduction as well.

Other Fun & Miscellaneous Deductions

Just about any expense – no matter how seemingly strange – can be deducted if you are able to prove that the expense is necessary to run your blogging business. Some fun deductions that may apply to certain bloggers include:

Cable or Satellite TV Charges: If you run a blog that offers movie reviews or critiques the effectiveness of TV commercials, you may be able to deduct these expenses.
Pet Expenses: If your blog documents your duck hunting expeditions or chronicles the daily life of your animal, your pet expenses can be deductible.
Alcohol: If you blog about wine, beer, whiskey, tequila, grain alcohol or any other type of alcohol, you may be able to take a 100% deduction for these types of things rather than the 50% deduction that is typically allowed for entertainment expenses.
Trips to Exotic Locations: As previously discussed, money that you spend traveling to a training seminar – including seminars in exotic locations – is tax-deductible. Also, if you run a travel blog and write about your experiences, any trip that you take may be fully or partially deductible.

Not All Bloggers Qualify for Deductions

As you may have noticed, all deductions allowed by the IRS apply to business-related expenses. Of course, not all bloggers are business owners. In order to offset other income that you may have earned, you should have a blog that produces profit at least three of the past five years; otherwise, the IRS may deem your blogging activity to be a hobby. IRS classification of your blog as a hobby means that “allowable deductions cannot exceed the gross receipts for the activity.” In other words, your blog-related deductions cannot have totaled more than the income that you report from your blog (or hobby) on your tax return. In turn, your blog’s expenses will be subject to the 2% miscellaneous expenses rule. See IRS.gov to learn more about the strict guidelines that are in place to determine whether your blog is for profit or merely a hobby.

When in doubt, it always recommended that you check with your tax preparer or accountant as opposed to making assumptions that may land you in hot water with the IRS.

Manny Davis

This guest post was provided by Manny Davis. His website contains a frequently updated tax tips and news blog that provides information on changes to tax law and advice on how to save on taxes, as well as detailed guides to help taxpayers resolve IRS tax penalties and various other tax-related problems.

32 Responses to “Tax Deductions that Bloggers Should Not Miss”

Christina Gleason from Cutest Kid Ever says:
10/10/2011 at

Damn. I’m already using most of these for deductions.
Christina Gleason @ Cutest Kid Ever recently posted..Price Chopper Premiere Holiday Baking Class – Liveblogged

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sam from goa carnival says:
10/11/2011 at

These type of information can prove helpful for us. If any blogger earning well in a year then every one will note them and that will be like a duty for he/she will pay tax honestly according to his/her income.

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Ryan Biddulph says:
10/11/2011 at

Hi Heather and Manny,

I never thought about a few of these.

Makes sense though; business-related stuff is a work-related investment which can be written off.

Thanks for sharing!

Ryan
Ryan Biddulph recently posted..Use this List Building Tip to Grow Your Business | Do Not Look at My Hair

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Oliver Tausend says:
10/11/2011 at

Hi Manny and Heather,

thanks for sharing these tax tips. As we have most of these expenses anyway, we might as well use them for paying less in taxes.

Take care

Oliver
Oliver Tausend recently posted..Network Marketing Legend Michael Dlouhy – Why You Should Care About ‘Success In 10 Steps’

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JohnC from Apple Mail Fraud Lawyer says:
10/12/2011 at

This is really useful and important, all bloggers should know this information. I’ll keep your points in my mind to avoid any legal sanctions. Thanks!

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waterpearls says:
10/13/2011 at

Hi Manny,
It is a good post for awareness of tax for successful bloggers and I think for a good citizen it is good to pay tax for your online earnings.
waterpearls recently posted..Novica Review

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Ted from Part Time Ted says:
10/14/2011 at

I think for those travel expenses there is something like a 51% rule where more than half your trip has to be for business. That means that it is possible to extend a several day conference trip by another day to enjoy the sites of wherever you happen to be at and still be able to deduct the trip.
Ted@Part Time Ted recently posted..Free Content For Your Blog or Website

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steve says:
10/16/2011 at

Hi Manny, Nice run down you have there. I am a blogger and I wasn’t aware of those things. It is just passive for me until I’ve read your article about taxes for bloggers. Thanks
steve recently posted..Read some stress quotes and change your perspective on life

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Meg from Cast Iron Baths says:
10/17/2011 at

Thanks for this Wonderful and Important sharing.

As I personally think that PAY tax means it proves that WE are GENUINE, RESPONSIBLE and HONEST citizen of our country.

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Lissy from Car Lease Los Angeles says:
10/20/2011 at

Do you have to be making money from your blog to use these deduction?

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Anna says:
10/20/2011 at

I also think that except for being a good citizen, you must be an honest man. This mean paying your taxes! I completely share your opinion:)
Anna recently posted..straightening teeth can be a risk-taking.

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Rani Bano says:
10/27/2011 at

That is so informative collection thank you

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Leisly says:
10/28/2011 at

OMG…I think I miss a lot of thing here….Thanks posting this…
Leisly recently posted..Diet Spots

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Pete Goumas says:
10/29/2011 at

Hi Manny,
It is a nice post and I think many bloggers dont think that they should have to pay tax from what they earn from blogging and it is a good post for their awareness.
Pete Goumas recently posted..WebWatcher Review

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Ana from Increase Web Traffic says:
10/30/2011 at

LOL! I was going to say exactly that…

Manny, thanks for this great article.
Ana @ Increase Web Traffic recently posted..Aweber Review

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Leo says:
10/31/2011 at

We should be well prepared to pay out tax. Because end of the year, we never come across any problems on our investments. Now a days tax payment has become very easy through internet payment system.
Leo recently posted..Cuales son los peligros de fumar

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Danny from Travel Updates says:
12/16/2011 at

Ah… IRS must consider my blog as a hobby, I believe. Thanks for the article.
Danny@Travel Updates recently posted..Bronx Zoo Map, Directions and Brief History

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Alice says:
12/19/2011 at

Hey Manny.
This will be the first time I will have to file taxes. It sure looks to be an headache, thanks for your tips on these deductions.
Alice recently posted..More Solutions to Debt Problems

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Jay from Authority Hybrid Bonus says:
12/20/2011 at

Hi Heather and Manny,

I never even thought about all those IM products being tax deductable, I must have spent 100s this year on these things trying to educate myself – Thanks for the tip!
Jay@Authority Hybrid Bonus recently posted..Protected: Bonus Downloads

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Beth from Get Him Back says:
01/17/2012 at

Hi Manny

Just found your post as I need to get my tax affairs in order due to the success of some of my sites in the last year. It’s surprising how many bloggers don’t cover this important topic, knowing what’s deductable and what’s not can really help when it comes to deciding to buy that new piece of technology. Many thanks for helping all us small time bloggers.
Beth@Get Him Back recently posted..How to Make a Guy Miss You

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Jennifer Bourn says:
01/22/2012 at

Great list of tips – and thank you for also mentioning that not everyone qualifies for all of the deductions. Every blogger needs to do their due diligence and check with their CPA to see what they do and don’t qualify for.
Jennifer Bourn recently posted..4 Things You Must Know When Creating Your Irresistible Free Offer

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