Using percentage of cost as expense?

[Edward Doolittle]

And there's another issue: what if, at the end of some tax period, you
realize that the split shouldn't be 90/10? Say, you had to use the vehicle
for a lot of personal medical appointments over the past three months. If
you make the split at the end of an accounting period (quarterly or year
end or something else depending on your tax regulations) then you just have
to make the one adjustment (from 90/10 to 80/20, for example) to a single
large transaction which divides your auto expenses between business and
personal. If you have a hundred smaller expenses (each fill up, oil change,
etc.), you would have to adjust each of those, or create another
"correcting transaction" moving 1/9 of the expense from the business
accounts(s) to the personal account, which would be puzzling from an audit
perspective and would defeat your desire to split the expense when it is
incurred.

On 19 February 2015 at 16:50, Mike or Penny Novack <
stepbystepfarm at mtdata.com> wrote:

> On 2/19/2015 1:38 PM, Alice Lee wrote:
>
>> Is the paperwork for the government just estimated tax?  Is this your
>> first
>> year in business?  I am asking because actual expenses may not be your
>> best
>> tax deduction and, even if it is, you still need to keep a mileage log.
>>
> Perhaps as much to the point, WHY? You aren't filing taxes on a daily
> basis, are you.
>
> There are LOTS of things you will be doing at the end of your fiscal
> period adjusting things that will result in deductible expenses. For
> example, one of the big chunks of expense of this car is going to be
> depreciation of the car, yes? I would think you could just as well go
> through the year accumulating car expenses and at the end ONE transaction
> splitting between deductible (business) and non-deductible (personal).
>
> As some people have already noted, your 90/10 policy might not fit
> everything and that could be in both directions. Sorry, but the adapter
> allowing the child seat to be fastened, I think that would be 0/100 unless
> you could show a business need to have the child along. On the other hand,
> those magnetic door signs would be 100/0 as I can't see any personal
> benefit form having your business advertised on your car.
>
> Michael D Novack
>
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-- 
Edward Doolittle
Associate Professor of Mathematics
First Nations University of Canada
1 First Nations Way, Regina SK S4S 7K2

« Toutes les fois que je donne une place vacante, je fais cent mécontents
et un ingrat. »
-- Louis XIV, dans Voltaire, Le Siècle de Louis XIV, Chap. XXVI