Canadian Banks Canadian Loans


PDA

View Full Version : Anyone do home parties - What to claim?


coffee
02-26-2009, 08:58 PM
I was thinking about becoming a consultant where I would do home parties.

What can I claim?

Tsveta
02-27-2009, 09:31 AM
Do you have a registered corporation or sole proprietorship? It makes all the difference of what you can claim on your tax return. I would suggest to talk to an accountant for that...

coffee
02-27-2009, 12:21 PM
Thank you:) When we get our taxes done I'll ask.

RSTech
03-06-2009, 03:54 PM
A couple of years ago I went to a seminar presented by two tax auditors from the enforcement division. They had some great advice. There was an open question and answer period and I was shocked at what people were trying to claim. The auditors however seemed to have heard it all before and had a similar answer for every question. You can claim a reasonable amount for the business portion only.

For example if you have home parties in your living room and you decide to give your living room a face lift (new paint, pictures, furniture) can you claim those expenses? Only the business portion. So the auditor would ask how many hours in the year are your parties, lets say a party every month that lasts 2 hours, that's 24 hours. Now how often is your living room used for non-business, personal activities. Let's see the kids are in there every morning for an hour, and me and my spouse are in there for 4 hours every evening. That's 5 hours per day x 365 days = 1825 hours per year. So 24 hours is 1.3% of the total (this is the business-use portion). So if you spent $10,000 on a makeover you can claim $130. But be careful, depending on what your writing off it may be capital cost allowance (CCA) and you will have to claim that $130 over several years. Now you won't get the whole $130 back, that's just your write-off. Depending on your tax bracket and what the claim is you might get say 30% of that amount, or $39 (spread out over 5 years). So is it worth it? Many people are under the misunderstanding that you can write off anything and some people do. But be prepared to explain the write-off to an auditor if you ever get audited and be prepared to pay back the money you should have paid along with interest and possibly a penalty. I don't speak from experience, I speak as someone who never wants to be in that position.

One that I got a good laugh at was a guy who sells custom decks (part-time business) who put a deck on the back of his house and claimed the entire amount. He said it is a display unit that he shows customers. When the auditor asked how often and for how long customers are looking at the deck he said he had a three or four people over the past couple of years! Anyone care to do the math on that one? Let's the business portion was 4 hours in the past 2 years....

Swift
05-04-2009, 11:13 AM
Are you doing them in your home or someone elses home? If its someone else's home then you can claim your car expenses or atleast a percentage that you use it to work with.

kimkk15
05-24-2009, 10:03 PM
Hello.....

Liberal Democrat claims to be the party of youth fell flat yesterday when it emerged that the title of "youngest MP" was about to fall to Labour.

The revelation sparked desperate attempts to regain the trophy by the Liberal Democrats, whose theme of the day was "Give Youth A Chance".

Although the Liberal Democrats have only one under-30 in a seat they can seriously expect to win, Labour has three. The Conservatives' youngest serious hopeful is 30.

While it is still not clear who will be the youngest MP, Labour will certainly carry off the trophy. Yvette Cooper, a former Independent journalist, is standing for the party at the age of 28 in the safe seat of Pontefract and Castleford, while Claire Ward, at 24, might well win Watford.

The Liberal Democrats' youngest serious contender is Stephen Gallagher, 29, who takes over from the retiring Sir Russell Johnston in Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber.

However, in an attempt to prove they were still the party of youth, Liberal Democrat spin doctors last night sent The Independent a list of all the seats where they had under-30s fighting in second place. These included Huntingdon, where the Prime Minister has a 22,000 majority.

The Conservatives do not have any policy on whether or not putting young MPs into Parliament is a good thing, a spokeswoman for the party said slightly sniffily. She suggested a handful of 33- and 34-year-olds along with one 40-year-old as the Tory representatives from the younger end of the market. Graham Brady, 30, will take over the safe seat of Altrincham and Sale from Sir Fergus Montgomery.

"It really depends what you mean by "winnable," the spokeswoman said, wondering whether to include the Stafford candidate David Cameron, born in 1966. "It's a 6,000 majority."

Labour's third young contender is Lorna Fitzsimmons, 29, who is fighting the highly marginal Rochdale for the party.

Yesterday Ms Ward said she was very hopeful of winning the seat, which would give Labour a majority of 51 if it fell to the party on a uniform swing. Being the youngest MP would not be too hard a cross to bear.

"It's daunting, but it's also very exciting and a challenge and I would relish that as an opportunity.

"I think it's very positive for the Labour Party and positive for politics that we should have more young people coming into Parliament," she said.

The Liberal Democrats' press conference yesterday was devoted to the party's policies on youth. Its leader Paddy Ashdown, at 56 the oldest of the three main parties, said he was "infuriated" by the waste of thousands of young lives through lack of opportunity.

"The Liberal Democrat vision is to give all Britain's young people the chance to make a difference to their own lives, to their communities and to Britain as a whole," he said.

The Liberal Democrats do still have some claims to be the party of youth, though. Matthew Taylor, MP for Truro, has been the youngest MP since he was elected at the age of 24 in 1987. Before that Charles Kennedy, who was elected for the SDP in Ross Cromarty and Skye at the age of 24 in 1983, held the title.

In 1979, the youngest MP was Stephen Dorrell, now Secretary of State for Health, who was elected at the age of 27. The youngest-ever woman MP is Bernadette Devlin who was 21 when she was elected as Independent Unity member for Mid-Ulster in 1969.

But no one will ever beat the record of Henry Long, who was just 15 when he was made member for Old Sarum in 1835. Under modern electoral law, no minor can sit in Parliament.

Four hopeful twentysomethings who stand a good chance of winning a Westminster seat

Claire Ward, 24,

Labour candidate for Watford

Already used to the limelight - as well as standing for Parliament, Ms Ward is Mayor of Elstree and Borehamwood in Hertfordshire. She works as a trainee solicitor. Born in North Shields, Tyne and Wear, she was educated at the Universities of Hertfordshire and Brunel and the College of Law in London.

Yvette Cooper, 28, Labour candidate for Pontefract and Castleford.

Latterly an economics writer on The Independent, Yvette Cooper has worked for both John Smith, the former Labour leader, and Gordon Brown, the shadow Chancellor. Born in Inverness and brought up in Hampshire, she took a first in PPE from Balliol, Oxford, and spent a year at Harvard as well as working on Bill Clinton's election campaign in 1992.

Stephen Gallagher, 29, Liberal Democrat candidate for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber.

At 29, Stephen Gallagher is already an election veteran. He contested the Monklands East seat for his party after the death of the former Labour leader, John Smith, in 1994. He was union president at Glasgow University and has been rural affairs spokesman for the Scottish Liberal Democrats since 1995.

Graham Brady, 30, Tory candidate for Altrincham and Sale West.

Graham Brady, who was deputy head boy at Altrincham Grammar School, promises to defend state grammar schools as well as the non-selective schools locally. He has a law degree from Durham, and is public affairs director of a consultancy and conference business.

Bernadette Devlin, Independent Unity MP for Mid-Ulster from 1969- 1974.

Elected at 21, Bernadette Devlin (now McAliskey) remains the youngest- ever woman MP. The most famous incident in her parliamentary career was her assault in the Chamber on the Home Secretary, Reginald Maudling, in the wake of the Bloody Sunday shootings.

Stephen Dorrell, Secretary of State for Health

Became an MP in 1979 at the age of 27, when he was elected Conservative MP for Loughborough. Educated at Uppingham School and Brasenose College, Oxford, he was personal assistant to Peter Walker, MP, at the age of 22 and PPS to him at the energy department at the age of 31.