Hi Tom Question For You

[daycare]

I posted this question last week but never got a response..

I had my taxes done and I spent more than I made.... about $3k more.. My tax lady said that I cant claim more than I spent? Is this true? Do I have to claim it next year?

thanks in advance

[Abigail]

You should post this under the tax category that Tom checks into. I remember reading you can deduct/claim all your expenses even if you didn't make enough to cover those from your daycare income alone. It's just not good to claim a loss more than two years I think.

[daycare]

I thought that I did post it there..

[Michael]

I moved it for you. Suggest you look through the threads in the tax section or look through the Tom Copeland tags.

[daycare]

I moved it for you. Suggest you look through the threads in the tax section or look through the Tom Copeland tags.

I did not realize that I posted it in the wrong place...thanks for doing that...

[TomCopeland]

Claiming a loss

If the expenses you put directly on Schedule C are greater than your income, you can show a loss. But any expenses from Form 8829 Business Use of Your Home cannot create or increase a loss. So check to see what is causing your loss. Any expenses on Form 8829 that you can't claim because of the loss you can roll over to 2012. If you were entitled to claim expenses on Schedule C, but didn't claim them, you can't roll these over to 2012.

[daycare]

If the expenses you put directly on Schedule C are greater than your income, you can show a loss. But any expenses from Form 8829 Business Use of Your Home cannot create or increase a loss. So check to see what is causing your loss. Any expenses on Form 8829 that you can't claim because of the loss you can roll over to 2012. If you were entitled to claim expenses on Schedule C, but didn't claim them, you can't roll these over to 2012.

thanks for getting back to me. the loss was from schedule C. I purchased a lot of DC shelfs, tables, chairs, new cots and orginally forgot to put these in mmk when I took in my paper work to the CPA. I printed out the new schedule C with these items on them and this is when i was told that I cound not claim anymore.

So will I have to amend my taxes to resolve this? The amount that I should have still claimed was $4215.00 that i was denied....

[TomCopeland]

Loss

Yes, file an amended tax return to get a refund. Have the tax preparer do this without charging you a fee. Ask her to show you where it says you can't claim a loss because it doesn't say that anywhere.

Now, if you owe no federal income tax then claiming extra deductions on Schedule C won't make any difference and you shouldn't amend. But as long as you owed some federal income tax for the year you should amend.