J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 2015: For Preparing Your 2014 Tax Return

Part 6Business Tax Planning

In this part, you will learn how to report your income from a business or profession, and how to reduce your tax liability by claiming expense deductions. Pay special attention to—

• Reporting rules for income and expenses on Schedule C (Chapter 40).
• Restrictions on deducting home office expenses. Your deduction may be limited by a restrictive income test (Chapter 40).
• The increased deduction for qualified domestic production activities income (Chapter 40).
• SEP, and SIMPLE, and qualified retirement plan rules if you are self-employed. These plans offer tax deductions for contributions and tax-free accumulation of income within the plan.
• Health savings accounts and other medical plans (Chapter 41).
• First-year expensing and depreciation write-offs for business assets (Chapter 42).
• The IRS mileage allowance as an alternative to claiming operating expenses and depreciation for your business automobile (Chapter 43).
• Reporting sales of business property on From 4797 (Chapter 44).
• Computing and paying self-employment tax on self-employment earnings from a business or profession (Chapter 45).

• Chapter 40 Income or Loss From Your Business or Profession 40.1–40.28
• Chapter 41 Retirement and Medical Plans for Self-Employed 41.1–41.14
• Chapter 42 Claiming Depreciation Deductions 42.1–42.20
• Chapter 43 Deducting Car and Truck Expenses 43.1–43.12
• Chapter 44 Sales of Business Property 44.1–44.12
• Chapter 45 Figuring Self-Employment Tax 45.1–45.6