Can You Write off Your Dog as a Home Office Expense?

OK, I’ll admit, I really don’t know if you can write off your dog as a home office expense.

But there are people out there who certainly want to know, because last week, my search engine keyword referrer report tells me that at least one person in this country was searching Google with those exact keywords. (Really. I’m serious.)
I have another confession – I absolutely HATE accounting and doing taxes. I hate the record keeping, I hate keeping the little paper receipts, I really hate it all.

But unfortunately, it’s the ‘dark side’ of running a business – the inevitable responsibilities that come with the perks of a flexible schedule and following your dream.

So what’s a poor number-challenged work at home parent to do?

Hire help.

But that’s not all – in fact, I got an email from H&R Block’s PR agency letting me know about National Tax Advice Day (which happened last week – I didn’t get a lot of advanced notice on that one!). Even though the day is over, I have to give them kudos for starting a tax blog that’s actually well written and dare I say it, interesting. *gasp*

• Did you know you can write off what you spend for Weight Loss (with caveats, of course!)
• You can save a little time with your expensive accountant by having all of the right documents ready when you have your meeting. They have a nifty little ‘checklist generator’ that will help you identify all of the records and writeoffs you will need for 2006 here.
• They also have a Deduction Finder categorized by (limited) industries, which will help you identify specific deductions you can take if your business is in Real Estate, Home Day Care, or other trades. They even have tax tips for “Homemakers”. Who would have thought?!

Sadly, I am not, nor ever will be, your go-to person for Home Business Tax advice. But you can count on me to pass along whatever I find that helps along the way – and if you have your own tips, recommendations, or links, PLEASE send them to me so that I can share them with everyone!

Happy Taxing! :/

PS: Just to be clear, I mentioned that I was emailed by H&R Block’s agency – but they neither requested this post, nor did they offer any compensation for this post. I thought their resources were valuable and wrote this post just because I wanted to.