Good morning, it’s already the 6th day of the year, wow times flying. If you’re an author then you’ll want to read this post, and even if you’re not and you file taxes, take a few minutes to check this out.
Here’s a list of expenses that you can claim as a published author if you have royalties to claim as income.
Expenses:
Writing program expenses (Ex. Word, Powerpoint, Scrivener, etc.)
Subscription Fees (Ex. Writing Magazines, Writing Site fees, etc.)
Dues (Ex. Romance Writers Associations, Writing Associations, etc.)
Computers/Laptops/Printers
Pens/Pencils/Paper/Journals/Notebooks
Postage (Used to mail books, letters to editors, etc.)
Advertising
Swag expenses
Book Signing expenses
Labor paid to a writing assistant
Editing fees/Cover Design Fees
Website design fees/Domain fees
These are just some of the expenses that some authors forget when they sit down to do their taxes.
Now remember to make sure you get all of the 1099 forms from all the places where you sold books this year. I always print a summary of sales report on all of the sites my books are on, that way I don’t leave out anything.
If you have any questions as you prepare to do your return, email me and I’ll help. Check out my accounting website for more information at http://hurtsbusiness.wix.com/hurtsbusiness
As always, good writing and May God Bless You…
Stephanie Hurt - Romance Author 
Wow! This is really golden, Steph! I live in Germany, but I’m pretty sure things aren’t much different. All I have to do is tell my accountant that I’m an author, and she’ll be able to deduce all these costs from taxt. Never thought about this before. Amazon has already sent the sales reports, so I’m good to go. Thank you!
Thanks Ana! I have several writers as clients and they’re constantly forgetting things they can claim. As writers we have to stick together, so it’s my pleasure to help others get everything they should. Hope you have a wonderful day!
I am not making any money yet lol but am trying very hard to get into good habit of keeping expenses tracked so it will become easier once money is travelling both ways instead of just out, just a query, I know you included writing programmes and computers etc for writing but can stuff like camera equipment, microphones, video editing software and photo lighting equipment also be counted if you are using it to create vlogs linked to your writing and book trailers?
Good morning Paula! Hoping that this year you get your dream. As far as the equipment in question, if you make money to support the use of the equipment it’s usually deductible. Or you could claim as startup expenses and amortize them 😉
To be quite honest think we will be well into a new tax year before I break even let alone start making money lol but good to know it is a possibility and think maybe one of the best ways for newbies like me is to just keep receipts for everything and once money starts coming in let the accountant sort it out lol
Exactly, but it will happen. Keep up the good work and the doors will open. Hope you have a wonderful day…