Tax Question

[Drizzle]

Originally Posted by Welpe

The certified tax person I pay to do my taxes disagrees due to the nature of our work and each school being a temporary work site. This is what I do, everybody has to make their own decision.

I document all officiating income by game, including mileage compensation. That is all totaled up as income. All miles driven are recorded as expenses and are totaled up with all other expenses for the year.

I claim every cent I make officiating, 1099 issued or not. I also be sure to write off everything I can including uniforms, assigning fees, chapter dues, insurance fees and such. I don't bother trying to deduct part of my cell phone, internet or laundry expenses. I figure the small gain isn't worth the increased chance of an audit (though there are folks that do deduct those things).

Thanks for the reminder to get working on this. I need to quite being so lazy and actually keep up with these records throughout the year.

Everything you said is great except for the mileage part - I have to disagree with your tax pro (this is coming from a tax pro). Just because it's a temporary work site does not make commuting mileage deductible (if it's in your metro area, which of course is vaguely defined). In the vast majority of cases, if you're coming from your home, it's not deductible. Going from your full-time job to the school is.

Either way, the key is to KEEP GOOD RECORDS. Like others, a good spreadsheet is usually all you need.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Drizzle

Everything you said is great except for the mileage part - I have to disagree with your tax pro (this is coming from a tax pro). Just because it's a temporary work site does not make commuting mileage deductible (if it's in your metro area, which of course is vaguely defined). In the vast majority of cases, if you're coming from your home, it's not deductible. Going from your full-time job to the school is.

Either way, the key is to KEEP GOOD RECORDS. Like others, a good spreadsheet is usually all you need.

It's amazing how this one topic has been disagreed on by various tax pros over the years. You'd think it would be cut-and-dried for some reason.

Anyhow, what about those of us who work from a home office full time (for my day job). Would the tax pro say I'm not entitled to *any* officiating related mileage?

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

We are sports officials and 99.999,999,999,999% of the time we are independent contractors. So let us for the sake of this discussion assume that all of our officiating income falls under our status as an independent contractor.

All mileage that one drives for business purposes is deductible. One's home is considered to be the main office for the business. One drives to various schools to provides the services that one has been contracted to perform and to drive to various business related meetings. No were in the Schedule C Instructions for Line 9 (for 2011) does it mention "metro area". If one has to drive from Point A to Point B to officiate then that is deductible mileage.

I have been filing Schedule C's for officiating for 31 years and claim every penny of game fees (check, cash, whether a 1099 is generated or not). And I have claimed every 0.1 of a mile that I have driven for officiating, and have never had my return questioned.

Actually, the deductions (besides the mileage deduction) that are allowed are pretty easy: parking, toll roads, insurance (liability and game fee replacement), vehicle rental, repairs/maint. of equipment, postage, stationary (envelopes and such for correspondence), travel (air fair, hotels, and meals), association membership dues, registration fees, assignors fees, uniforms, equipment, laundry/drycleaning, publications, and education.

There is one deduction that the vast majority of officials do not know that they can claim and that is the interest on the car loan of the car that they drive when officiating. The amount that one can deduct is a prorated amount (miles driven for officiating divided by the total amount of miles driven for the whole year). The mileage deduction does not cover the amount of interest paid in car loans.

My better half created an Excel spreadsheet for me years ago. I use the spread sheet as well as my Outlook Calendar as my diary for tax purposes.

I have never had anyone prepare my tax returns for me. Filing Schedule C's are not really a very difficult thing to do.

MTD, Sr.

[Tio]

I would recommend seeing if your association knows a CPA that works with any of the officials. We have an official who is a CPA by trade. I pay him to do my taxes every year. He charges $200-$300 and he has literally saved me thousands of dollars the last 5 years.

I keep a mileage log and also receipts for camps, supplies and can even expense a portion of cell phone/internet costs since they are necessary for the job.