How To Write Off Business Expenses In Canada

As the owner of a small business, you are always thinking of ways to save or make money while juggling the never-ending tasks that come with running a business every day. Even though taxes aren’t always the first thing you think about, they are an important part of running a successful business and can either save you money or cost you money.

Even if you know you can write off things like rent and office supplies, other tax deductions may not be as obvious.

What do tax deductions mean?

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Tax deductions are the best friend of a small business owner. The Canada Revenue Agency lets you keep a certain amount of money from your taxable income. This is called a tax deduction (CRA). If you qualify for enough tax deductions, you might fall into a lower tax bracket. This could lower the amount of taxes you have to pay each year.

Include all of your costs that can be included to write-off for business expenses, no matter how small, because they all add up and make the difference.

Start-up costs:

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Your business’s start-up costs could include everything from materials to legal and accounting advice. To get a tax deduction for start-up costs, they must be spent in the same tax year (or fiscal quarter) that your business started up.

Marketing Fees:

Materials you use to sell your business and how much they cost you to make. Some examples are business cards, flyers, signs, giveaways with the company name, trade shows, designer fees, and printing costs.

Advertising expenses:

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These costs include advertising in Canadian newspapers, radio stations, and TV stations. Costs like making a website, registering a domain name, and keeping it up to date can be deducted from your taxes.

Business Supplies:

The price of the things that are needed to make things or give services. For example, the tools that a plumber uses and the tools that a hair salon uses to clean and style hair.

Office Supplies:

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Stationery includes paper clips, stamps, pencils, pens, and other small things. Don’t forget to include the cost of cleaning supplies. As capital items, you shouldn’t count desks, chairs, filing cabinets, and calculators.

Rentals:

The rent you pay on property that you use for business, like the land and building where your office is, is tax-deductible.

Home Office:

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Small business owners often work at home on the weekends and late at night. If this is true for you, you might get a tax break. For example, if your home is 2,000 square meters and your office is 400 square meters, your office uses 20% of the space in your home. On your tax return, you may be able to write off 20% of the costs related to your home office.

Taxes on property:

For the land and building that your business is in. As a cost of using a house for business, the property tax for a home office must be deducted.

Conclusion

Many business owners pay a lot more tax than they need to every year because they don’t know about the tax breaks they are entitled to. This is general information, so if you need specific advice for your business, you should talk to a professional accountant right away to find out how much you could save this year.