What You're Probably Forgetting To Pack For Conference

Good morning, Everyone. Audra here.

Okay, so I had this really great idea for the blog this month--punctuation!! Terrific stuff learning where to place all those commas, apostrophes and semi-colons! Ooo, I feel your anticipation!!

Well...before I work myself up so much not even a Ruthy Special Latte will calm my nerves, I have some bad news...the punctuation will have to wait. Why you ask??
Divine Intervention.

Last weekend, I attended my Northern Colorado group - Front Range Christian Fiction Writers. Danica Favorite-McDonald was our guest speaker. Amazing woman sharing her amazing knowledge. I knew right then, I had to snap her up for Seekerville : )

I know many of you already know Danica. I don't really need to say anything more.

Welcome, Danica : )

I'm about to say a really bad word. Don't worry, God and I will have a chat about it later. Yes, I am talking about taxes. Some of you are confused and wondering what packing for a conference has to do with taxes. Everything. For many writers, attending writing conferences can provide an important business deduction. Yet many people are still forgetting some expenses they can legitimately claim as business deductions. Frankly, that's about as bad as forgetting to pack your underwear.

As you head into conference season, here are five commonly missed deductions to think about:

Mileage. Some of you are saying, “but I flew to the conference.” Yes, but you drove to the airport, didn't you? At 55 cents per mile, that's not a bad deduction.

Meals and incidentals. How many of us really eat the rubber chicken they serve at the banquets? Please. Life's too short. The trouble is, sometimes we get receipts, sometimes we don't. Or we go out as a group, don't want to bother with separate tickets, and have no idea how to keep track. More money we give to Uncle Sam that rightfully belongs to us. Here's the solution: the IRS Per Diem Rates, found in publication 1542: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1542.pdf. Rather than keeping track of every single receipt (although you can if you want), the IRS gives a standard daily allowance for meals and incidentals based on locality. (For those of you going to RWA in Washington, DC, my next conference, it's $64 a day). You can either use your actual receipts for the trip OR the IRS allowance. In my experience, the IRS allowance has always been a better deduction.

Miscellaneous receipts. Organization is not really my thing, believe it or not. Don't ever attempt to get into my purse because you will not come out alive. Not because I'll kill you, but because something in it will. At conferences, we end up with all kinds of junk: bookmarks, promo items, the cute cover flat you just couldn't pass up, handouts, business cards, receipts, and the occasional “what was I thinking” piece of paper.

My solution: a conference binder.

When I leave for the conference, I print out all my reservation information and any other items I may need for the conference. All of it gets punched and put into my binder. I also put in an envelope. Throughout the conference, as I accumulate junk, I immediately stick the important stuff into the envelope. After the conference, I sort through the envelope. All of my tax information gets put back in the envelope, including all the reservation information I put in the binder (because if you're doing everything electronically, those are your receipts). I total everything on the outside of the envelope according to tax category, seal the envelope, and when tax time comes, I have it all there. No need to sort through piles of information and receipts and worry if I've remembered everything (definitely not) because it's all together.

Shipping or baggage charges. A lot of airlines now charge for bags. But it's usually a separate charge paid at the airport, so it's not on your eticket receipt. A lot of my clients forget this expense, so I imagine a lot of writers are forgetting it as well. In addition, if you ship anything home from the conference, for example, boxes of books you pick up at RWA, depending on how you ship it, you may be forgetting to claim that deduction. A couple of years ago, one of the hotels didn't know the charge because it was a Sunday, so I never got a receipt for the actual amount, other than the weird charge on my credit card statement a month later. If you're not paying attention, it's an easy expense to miss.

Things you should not be claiming. I had to squeeze this one in, because claiming expenses you're not entitled to could end up costing you money in the long run. If the IRS audits you and determines that you should not have claimed that particular expense, you could be subject to penalties and interest on top of paying taxes on the additional income.

I'll give my top three:

1. Your spouse. Unless your spouse specifically has a business purpose in being there (just keeping you company does not count), you do not get to claim their expenses. You can still claim yours, but theirs are not deductible.

2. Your conference clothes. Yes, I know most of us work in our Pjs. We have to go out and buy cute clothes so people don't think we're total freaks. Even though we will probably only wear that outfit to the conference, it's not deductible. The only clothing items that are ever deductible are ones that you can only wear for that business purpose. For example, a Mickey Mouse costume. Pretty clear, you could only wear it for your Mickey Mouse job. Business attire, even though you only wear it for conference, could be worn elsewhere. The could be worn elsewhere standard makes it nondeductible for business purposes.

3. Personal travel. If you're combining your trip with a visit to your great-aunt Elsie, that's wonderful, make sure you're only deducting the business portion of your trip. The part of your trip that included visiting great-aunt Elsie is not deductible.

So have fun this summer as you head out to all your conferences. Now that you're armed with important information about your conference tax deductions, you can finish packing. Just don't forget your underwear.