Entrepreneurs are often unaware of the requirements for documenting start-up expenses for a new business. For start-ups, before you even open the doors, you generally have to spend a lot of money to train workers and pay for rent, utilities, marketing and more. Entrepreneurs sometimes are surprised to find out that many expenses can’t be deducted right away. As an entrepreneur you need to know that the way you handle some of your initial expenses can make a large difference in your tax bill.
Key points on how expenses are handled
When starting or planning a new enterprise, keep these factors in mind:
- Start-up costs include those incurred or paid while creating an active trade or business — or investigating the creation or acquisition of one.
- Under the federal tax code, taxpayers can elect to deduct up to $5,000 of business start-up and $5,000 of organizational costs in the year the business begins. This $5,000 deduction doesn’t go far these days and the deduction is reduced dollar-for-dollar by the amount by which your total start-up or organizational costs exceed $50,000. Any remaining costs must be amortized over 180 months on a straight-line basis.
- No deductions or amortization write-offs are allowed until the year when “active conduct” of your new business commences. That usually means the year when the enterprise has all the pieces in place to begin earning revenue. To determine if a taxpayer meets this test, the IRS and courts generally ask questions such as: Did the taxpayer undertake the activity intending to earn a profit? Was the taxpayer regularly and actively involved? Has the activity actually begun?
Examples of expenses
Start-up expenses generally include all expenses that are incurred to:
- Investigate the creation or acquisition of a business,
- Create a business, or
- Engage in a for-profit activity in anticipation of that activity becoming an active business.
To be eligible for the election, an expense also must be one that would be deductible if it were incurred after a business began. One example would be the money you spend analyzing potential markets for a new product or service.
To qualify as an “organization expense,” the outlay must be related to the creation of a corporation or partnership. Some examples of organization expenses are legal and accounting fees for services related to organizing the new business and filing fees paid to the state of incorporation.
An important decision
Time may be of the essence if you have start-up expenses that you’d like to deduct this year. You need to decide whether to take the elections described above. Detailed recordkeeping is very important. If you are contemplating starting a business, contact Greg Nelson, CPA, MBT, to discuss your business start-up plans. We can help with the tax details and other aspects of your new venture and guide you in the right direction the day you open for business.