Taxes don’t have to be scary

First, if you plan to do your own accounting, I highly recommend getting a program like Mint to help you stay sorted between your business and personal expenses and it will also keep track of income for you. Getting a bank account like Novo will also help you file away a percentage for your taxes into a reserve account so you aren’t scrambling in Q1.

For private practice owners, there are quite a few things that you can write off on your taxes.

What will your tax form look like? You can find the form here: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf

So using the same numbers as the form above, you will have the following categories of business expenses (I deleted the ones I don’t use as a single owner with no employees):

What can I write off and what is it called for tax purposes?

• 8. Advertising & marketing

  Mail and print ads
  Online advertising
  Website design and maintenance
  Professional headshots
  Logo design
  SEO tools or consultation
  Business cards
  Brochures
  Sponsorships
  Promotional items like pens or notepads
  Monthly fees for directory listings (e.g. Psychology Today)

• 10. Commissions & Fees

  This is where your bank fees should go according to my tax guy @ H&R Block last year

• 14. Employee benefit programs

  Health insurance

  Retirement plan

• 15. Insurance

  Other than health (like your professional liability insurance)

• 17. Legal & Professional Services

  If you have someone create a contract for you, hiring a CPA, a biller, virtual assistant, etc.

• 18. Office expenses (intangible)

  Website
  Internet hosting fees
  Domain name
  Web software (booking & billing, teletherapy, Dropbox)
  Email service

• 20. Rent or lease

  Yes, you can write off part of your rent/ mortgage. It’s by squarefoot of your dedicated office space. Part of a multi-use room counts.

• 21. Repairs & maintenance

  Remember, this is strictly business equipment related.

• 22. Supplies (tangible)

  Supplies (tangible)
  Cleaning
  Postage
  Books & magazines
  File cabinet etc
  Small furniture (<$2500)
  Stationery
  Computers, printers, photocopiers, phones, etc.
  Printer or photocopier ink or toner
  Printer paper
  Artwork
  Storage bins

• 23. Taxes & licenses

  This includes your license renewal fee

• 24. Travel and meals

  Think anything to do with networking too! Or a retreat you attend.
  A) Travel
  - Mileage
  - Parking
  - Baggage fees
  - Rental car costs
  - Laundry and drycleaning
  B) Meals
  - While traveling for business
  - Business-related meetings (consultation, meeting with client)
  

• 25. Utilities

  Yes, even if you WFH. Count up to 1/3 of your internet, light, water, and gas bills.

• 27. Other expenses (line 48)

  It’s better to fit any of these into the other categories first.

  
  Membership fees (e.g. APA, NASW)
  Credit card processing fees
  Bank fees (for your business account)
  - Overdraft fees
  - Maintenance fees
  Continuing education
  - Supervision costs
  - Books, journals, and trade magazines related to your field
  - Learning supplies (stationery, note-taking apps, etc.)

  
  My tax guy said I could count my personal therapy here or under professional services. There is definitely some disagreement in our field about that so please contact a CPA.

For a full list and sources, I’ve made a google doc: here

I highly recommend using Airtable to sort your expenses because it will summarize amounts for each category. That item is in the works, let me know in the comments if you’d like me to send you a copy!