Can Landscaping be Considered a Business Expense?

Learn how landscaping expenses can be deducted from taxes when running a small business or working from home.

Can Landscaping be Considered a Business Expense?
The reason why landscaping is considered a business expense is simple: it is part of keeping the house, which functions as the office, looking its best. Self-employed individuals have to pay taxes on self-employment (Social Security and Medicare) and potentially other necessary taxes. It is recommended to consult a trusted accountant to file estimated taxes quarterly. Self-Employment Tax can be a frustrating expense for small business owners.

If you are considered a sole proprietor or independent contractor, you will have to pay this tax. This cost amounts to 15.3% of their revenues, but the good news is that part of the self-employment tax is deductible, about half of it. This is because the IRS considers the employer's portion of the tax to be a business expense. If you have an accountant, they can explain exactly how much and they will adjust the amount accordingly on your tax return.

If you work from home as a sole proprietor and meet with customers at home, a portion of the cost of gardening is deductible as a business expense. The amount is limited to the proportion of your home that is used for commercial purposes. Landscaping rental properties you own is not tax-deductible, because the IRS counts it as part of your capital investment. However, landscaping is depreciable as long as the land is closely associated with the rental property and has a useful life of at least one year. You can also cancel landscaping from your taxes if medically necessary, such as if a medical professional determines that they need to qualify the land to be accessible because they use a wheelchair.

Before considering tax deductions and cancellations, you should understand the structure of your business, since the type of structure affects how company expenses are deducted on a tax return. You can use the report to prepare your own tax return or to send the report to your tax preparer. By automating the tax preparation and accounting process, you can ensure that you maximize your allowable tax deductions. Advertising expenses such as online advertisements, advertising brochures that are mailed to potential customers, and ads published in several community newspapers are all deductible.

The IRS defines hired labor as workers who are not treated as employees, including independent contractors. Most of these workers are contract workers, and the cost of labor is reported in Schedule C. Sunshine Lawn Care owns trucks, cutters, blowers, trimmers, and several other expensive machinery parts. Depreciation expenses are recorded as each asset is used to generate income, and your tax accountant calculates the annual depreciation expense for your tax return.

You pay insurance premiums for several types of coverage, including vehicle insurance and liability insurance. However, check with your tax accountant or tax attorney if you deducted vehicle-related repair and maintenance expenses such as car and truck expenses. Tax law can be complicated, and a tax expert can help you avoid recording the same expenses twice. Running your gardening business is time-consuming, but you need to invest the time needed to file an accurate tax return. Automate your accounting and tax processes and get help from a tax accountant. Use these tools to grow your business and report all your available tax deductions.

Think about how much you spend on advertising each year: post ads online, place ads in newspapers in your local community, and print flyers to mail to potential customers. At the end of the year, you can deduct on your tax return all the money you spend on advertising for your business. Depending on how much you post, it could be a decent amount; they may deduct a portion of the total costs depending on how much of your property is used as a business.

These landscaping business amounts are included in the Internal Revenue Service and therefore all of these gardening services are tax-deductible. If you have a gardening business, your past business expenses will be counted when you file a tax return; you just need to prove that you are using the lawn mower for your gardening business and you should be able to pay taxes on the purchase price.

In addition, rent is not limited to property; you can deduct rents for equipment needed for commercial use. In other words, even if you have a lawn care business that takes you to other people's gardens, you should have at least one room in your house that you can call your home office.

If you have a home business, you have the right to pay off a portion of the housing expenses - surprisingly this can include landscaping! While most likely on-the-go as a gardening business owner, there certainly must be an office space - even if it's part of your home - which can be deducted from rental property expenses if they are expressly used for business purposes and not owned in any way.

The landscape tax affects everyone differently so it's best to work closely with both the IRS and your tax advisor when filing taxes. Automating accounting and tax processes helps maximize allowable deductions while billing takes too long when running any type of business - from construction or landscaping to consulting or photography.