I am doing my tax returns, I was a real estate agent and a 1099 employee, does everything have to be under a business name or classified as a business account in order to deduct expenses. For example, my car and cell phone expenses was under my personal name, do those need to be under a business name or my organization name in order for them to be deducted as operating expense on my taxes?
(I am aware that writing off the vehicle mileage used for business) purposes is easier and usually yeilds more of a deduction.

I just opened a small business in May (yea!) as a sole-proprietorship. I’ve spent a ton on business related items to get me started. The only thing I’ve done with taxes is file my sales tax returns…otherwise I am CLUELESS when it comes to taxes, deductions the whole bit. Would you suggest going to an accountant for this first time around or getting a program like tax pro? I’m a resident of NH but temporarily living CA (where I pay my sales tax to)–do the computer programs account for those sort of "weird" circumstances?

I incurred employee expense during business trip in the last quarter of 2005 and didn’t include it in 2005 returns as I was expecting the reimbursement. Since I didn’t get reimbursement for it , I would like to include it as ‘unreimbursed expenses’ in itemized deductions in 2006 tax returns. Is it allowed ?

I am thinking about buying my first home. I have two years been self-employed (contract labor not business) and have tax returns to prove income. However, I am slightly confused at what the lender will be looking at. I was told that it is the adjusted gross income, but someone also told me the taxable income. I think the latter is wrong because it includes standard deductions, not business deductions, therefore I still brought that home. Can someone help me please?

The premise of my question is based on some politicians’ suggestion that all business owners will file tax returns as individuals, thereby losing all their rightful deductions in order to not be taxed as a business because the exemption for tax increases is income under 0K?

I’m thinking about turning my online selling into a business, and I’m trying to get a feel for the tax-related pros and cons of making it official.

Here are 2 questions:
(1) I understand that I can write off business expenses on my tax returns. That includes computer equipment, trips overseas to purchase merchandise, etc. But I’ve never itemized my tax return before. Would I get more money back if I start a business, and then itemize my deductions rather than just taking the default deduction like I always do?

(2) If I make my online selling into an official business, will I have to pay extra business-related taxes?