jug@whuxle.UUCP (Joseph U. Grauman) (03/08/84)
What a neat idea! You're right about being able to deduct the cost of
technical journals (and, if you collect them, don't forget the investment
tax credit!). As far as the expenses you incur in reading the material
in the technical newsgroups are concerned, it sounds like that could be
a legitimate professional expense (I'm not a tax accountant - this is
just my interpretation of what I read in the In[f]ernal {:-)} Revenue
Service publications), provided that you keep the following items in mind:
1. Whether any particular item is an acceptable deduction depends on
whether you use it in your professionsl capacity
2. You should be prepared to establish a clear business purpose in the
event that you get audited
3. You should keep a log of your 'business' vs. 'pleasure' use of
accessing the net in order to be able to establish a percentage
that applies to professional use (which is what you would deduct)
4. You can only claim deductions for such things that are not reim-
bursable by your employer (i.e., if an item is reimbursable by your
employer but you didn't ask for reimbursement - forget it!)
It would be interesting to hear what others, perhaps more knowledgeable
than I am, have to say about this subject.
Joe Grauman
ATT-BL
whuxg!jugdys@homxa.UUCP (D.SZE) (03/09/84)
. Regarding the investment tax credit on journals, I believe that you can only take them for items that are depreciated. If you depreciate your journals, then your deduction this year is smaller because the total is spread out over several years. I would rather write all of it off in one year and forget about the investment tax credit. David Sze Bell Communiations Research, not AT&T as the header says (we invented the transistor)