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Yes you can deduct it. Employees get

Posted By: passin through on 2006-04-12
In Reply to: Can an at home employee deduct a computer on taxes? - or can just ICs deduct?

the same deductions many ICs do particularly since so many companies do not pay for large office space any longer, power, etc.  If you have any question at all about how to do it, ask your accountant but Turbo Tax walked me through it last year and this year too.  It used to be that they did not ask, but now they do and you can deduct your office based on the size of it and the mortgage etc. 


What many offices used to have now belongs to us that work at home and yes, we get that benefit because the offices definitely cannot legally deduct for this. Some companies reimburse for your internet.  Oh whoopie.  Less are providing equipment.  So now we do get to do a whole lot as employees because the costs of these necessities for work have been placed on us by cheap employers who try to get by with as little expense as possible.


 




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They want to deduct your salary from their
business expenses - so if they have NOT paid you, do not cooperate. Send them a registered letter stating simply the total $ owed, and enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope for their convenience - ha - and hold out signing any forms until YOU GET PAID!! What nerve they have!
Even when they deduct your entire (sm)
report if you make one error that QA doesn't catch and the hospital does?

Seems to me like QA should get dinged, not the MT.

TRS is your typical admin-heavy, treat the MT like a number company, made more offensive by their assumption that everyone in America is "Christian" and will adore prayer requests and other off-topic crap on the company email.


You can still deduct your MT expenses if your and IC - sm
regardless of taking the standard deduction. Your write offs for MT are on the Schedule C (not B). My husband and I take the standard deduction as we don't have enough on our Sch. B; then I write off all my IC deductions and report my income on the Sch. C.; putting the bottom line (income minus IC write-offs) on the 1040 line 12. So I am not quite clear on what you are talking about but I know how I do it is how most of us (if not all) do our deductions. You may want to do an amended return.
You can deduct many things when you are an IC - sm
Obviously since you were only an IC for 2 months in 2006, you can only make deductions for those 2 months, electricity for your home office, supplies, internet connection, phone, if you bought a computer for the IC job, use of your home office (a small fraction of your mortgage)---now if you are planning to move the smart thing to do is not take the home office deduction, it causes problems, a tax professional can explain all that. I take everything but the home office deduction as we have been saying for years were are going to move, and I figure if I finally do it, that will be when we finally do move, I'd probably be able to right off anohter $1k if I took it. So I end up writing off a percentage of my electricity and heat, phone line, internet, computer (took that deduction a few years ago), computer chair, printer supplies, reference books, programs, etc. You get the picture. Anything that pertains to your job you can write off basically. If you drive and pick up/deliver work, you can write off your mileage, just keep records. I have had both employee jobs and IC at the same time, best of both worlds in regards to taxes. I would have extra taxes taken out of the employee job to cover my IC taxes, though my DH has extra taken out and that has always covered my taxes so far. It is not hard to do, use a spreadsheet and let the computer do the work for you.
No, it's not. Poster says nothing about deduct.
x
You can deduct A LOT more than just office
x
What do you mean? They pay/deduct all but state taxes?
.
You can deduct your work stuff, i.e. all of above, but you will need a Sch. C - sm
I believe. I think you need that schedule (vs. the CEZ) in order to write all that off. The computer would be line 13 and you can take a section 179 deduction for the entire amount, for which you need form 4562 (lines 7-12 and 24a-29). It is not difficult to do. For your state taxes generally (presume every state is different though), you take line 36 off your 1040 (if you are using a 1040) and that amount will contain your reported income from the sch. C (which has your write-offs) - Good luck !
deduct for errors, infomatics
thatnks for your response. it's in the contract i got from them sat. i am supposed to start training tomorrow. my friend works for them and loves it. i'm a little bit more skeptical i guess. all type never called me back and that was me. i have applied to lots of cos. this weekend and will probably hear from some tomorrow. i had my own service and am technologically deprived. we had tapes and c phones, no internet voice. this is all new to me. infomatics does say they pay ins. now if you are full time.
deduct for errors, infomatics
Just curious but where did you obtain this information? I've heard there is another company, (who will deny it but the MTs swear it happens) who deducts for errors. I do not know this firsthand, however.

Did you take the job with Infomatics?

When I spoke with them about a year ago they were at 8 cpl and just in case - they do not have insurance coverage, which is something I must have.

Also, did you make a post earlier about a company All Type and the recruiter didn't call you back? If that is you, did they finally call you - would you consider working for them at this point?

I have always tried to research any company I think I would like to apply to, prior to applying. I even go so far as to check their Dunn & Bradstreet scores, because I want to know how financially stable they are or are not, if they pay bills on time, etc. But I'm a little OCD and AR...LOL

Well, I've rambled enough...BUT,,,,Please let us know what you decide and BEST OF LUCK :-)
DEDUCT FOR ERRORS, INFOMATICS
Do all big co. deduct for less than 989% accuracy.  They deduct 5%  Really leary of this company and am supposed to train tomorrow.  Seems it stays at 8 cents forever with no differentials or anything.
If married, have husband deduct more
You say you are married have your husband deduct more.  They don't care who pays the taxes as long as they get paid.  If you owe over a certain percentage they can put on a small fine but to me it didn't bother me and the few times I had to pay, I did it at year end.   When married though just had my hubby do one less dependant or single instead of married and it worked and most of the time still got a few pennies back.  But I keep a running spread sheet and on my Quick Books of what I am making, what my deductions are, etc. to keep ahead of the game.  Am always budgeting for next month and next year. 
each co. sets their own % to deduct, there is no standard
You would need to check the QA policy at your company to see what they deduct in points or percentage for each type of error. What Spheris does versus TTS or Medquist or whoever, it's all different.
MTSO will deduct for errors?
Hello everyone.  I signed a contract that my company can deduct for a certain percentage of errors or too many blanks.  Is this the norm?  Please advise.  I have 10 years of experience but I am still concerned.
Was told could deduct pet expenses. sm.
If it is a dog and is over 50 pounds, you can claim its food, vet bills, pet insurance, vaccinations all that as long as your business is run from your home. It applies as a guard dog. It does not matter which breed the dog is either. This is the state of Missouri, not sure about other states.

I am gonna try it as we shelled out alot of money over a period of time for a dog that was poisoned. Luckily, he lived.
I also live in an apt complex and plan to deduct
75% of my ISP, 100% of my ULD and I am considering 50% of my utilities (haven't decided on that one yet).

The reason I won't file for paying taxes is this. I live in a large apartment complex. Most of the complex is located within city limits, but I live in the back part which is actually located in what is considered as incorporated county. So, you can see that the property management pays a different tax rate for the majority of its property from the location of my apartment and because I cannot hand the IRS a statement showing I paid XXX amount in property tax, I will only claim the square footage...something I can prove in writing by printing out the floor plan, taking pictures of the office, and having a copy of the lease.
I tried to deduct price of deck by sitting out
x
No, SE means you pay part of your FICA and SS and state tax. They do not deduct it all.
x
Doesn't matter....they deduct 25% (or more) from your TOTAL lines - NM
NM
Can an at home employee deduct a computer on taxes?

Can deduct portion of mortgage, utilities.Equip
x
deduct telephone, electric and portion of house payments.
Hope this helps!
deduct everything you can think of, electricity, phone, home office if you chose to, supplies, inter
you get the picture. I don't do the home office deduction though because we keep saying we are going to build on a lot we have and things get screwed up with taxes due to this, something with depreciation, not really sure, know someone who had this problem though, owed a lot back. When we do move, then I will take it since I know it won't be an issue then. I write off about $2-$3K a year which helps some. Was paying quartly but have not done it in 2 years as I usually don't owe more than $1200 and my husband has extra taken out of his pay, so that has always, so far, taken care of any taxes I have "owed". -- Check out the IRS website they have plenty of info on the subject.
Thwap the husband on the head, buy the keyboard, save the receipt, deduct it from your taxes.

I wouldn't even ask my husband for something like that, any more than he asks me if he can fill up his car with gas so he can get to work! Sheesh! What a prince of a guy you've got there....  You get your keyboard, girl! 


I deduct all expenses that relate to my home office-% of utilities, taxes, repairs to that room, --s
mortgage (we do not plan to sell our house so this deduction will not affect us)as my office is used only for that purpose, internet, phone, I print out a daily schedule so paper/ink, computer repairs, pens, pencils, tape, staples, file cabinets, storge bins for tax recepts/tax returns,file folders. Anything/everything I use to do my job.

I was using mileage for another account where I pick up tapes every day, but found for me the time it took to keep track of the mileage, write it down, add it up was not worth the effort so I quit doing it this year.
Yes, they have a lot of employees
and no offense but all newbies because anyone with a brain and has a pulse runs, and runs fast.
So what does this mean for HIS employees and how do you know this? sm
How did you get this information?  Is everything finalized and signed between Spheris and Heartland?  What happens to those of us who work at Heartland?  What's this mean to us?
What about all of the employees out there
who adhere to a regular committed work schedule only to find there is no work available for them?? Sandy--what about all of the people who are forced to work later and later (beyond their committed shift schedule) just to find work?? We ARE paid by production. It sounds like you are the princess in this scenario. You're speaking to a lot of experienced loyal MTs out there who KNOW that working from home is their only option because of all of the outsourcing over the last 10 years especially. It works both ways. I would think a Transcriptionist looking for work would find you a bit on the pristine side. All of us MTs want is just to work. I just left a national company because there was NO WORK for over a month. At least 30-40 other MTs left this company and went to a smaller company because of the work readily available to them. Take it down a notch, Sandy.
Only to employees
.
New employees on it?
I've only had that happen when new employees aren't following the account specs...and sometimes when it first does a new "upgrade" on the docs.
They don't have any employees, just ICs...sm
And I have been on that account longer than any other transcriptionists there. Usually they said what they do is take the jobs that come in on that account and divide them between the MTs. So I don't know. These docs have a bad habit of not dictating daily. Sometimes they will wait till they absolutely have to dictate and then BAM hit you with a load.
Statutory employees too?
Is the new pay plan for statutory/IC employees too?  Cant you only switch to full time employee status twice a year, I think May and October or November.
statutory employees - MQ
When you have to take off, do you call in sick like you would a regular job?  In the past, I have and they have been quite unreasonable if I needed to take a day off for sick or personal reasons.  What upsets me is when there is no work, Im stuck, no work, oh well, but when I need to take off, I better be there, I better work or they have been quite nasty with me..What has been others response?  What have others done when they needed to take off?  Thanks for your response!
Do any Med-Quist employees
know whatever happened to Mark Forstein?  He used to be the president of Transcriptions, Ltd. before it was bought out by MedQuist.  He was Dave Cohen's cousin, I believe.
Go for it. HR needs to know if their employees are being "threatened". (sm)

They are having to offer huge bonuses to entice new employees, I don't think they would want their current employees walking because someone has no tact or ability to communicate with others. 


Hope things are better today for you all.


 


 


How do you MQ employees manage
to get in your 1200 lines in only 8 hours? I am having a dickens of a time, lots of ESLs, new account, etc. Just how do you do it? I figure it will take me 12 hours! Do you ask them to approve OT or what? I'm new at this, need to know. Have to have that insurance.
Any other SS employees not received their..
paycheck? I am not looking to start anything, just wondering if I am the only one who hasn't gotten paid yet?
The prison's employees
Pardon my ignorance. I'm still confused. What does the prison system have to do with transcription?  Why would the prison system hire transcriptionists to work in a facility as a transcriptionist??
For any Transcend employees (not ICs)..
Can you tell me if the hours are flexible at Transcend for full time employees?  I think instead of being an IC (I don't want to worry about taxes, being audited, etc.) I would like to be a full time employee; however, I'm in school too and need flexible hours and can't commit to a strict schedule - I need to be able to have more flexibility as my hours are different every semester.  Thanks for any help.
They have to be using overseas employees...sm
So remind her that  while they claim HIPAA compliance, truth of the matter is that  once the records leave the US soil there's really no protection.
I wonder if it applies to ICs or only employees?
I make a whole $9 -$14 an hour depending on the work, sometimes less of course when I get someone really bad.
They rotate employees so that no one
She should have reported those who were not doing very well.

The more times you use them, the lower their rates. I used to have MM come in 3 days a week and it was more than reasonable. Each time they came, one room received a deep cleaning. I loved them.

They are bonded, licensed, and insured. They provided ALL of their own cleaning supplies, didn't use mine. If they were injured in my home, they paid their own medical bills. If something was broken or stolen, MM reimbursed it.

Your friend's private keeper probably has none of that. If the keeper falls on a wet floor, etc., she will have to pay for her keeper's medical bills. If anything gets broken or stolen, she will have to file it on her homeowners.

Plus, with MM, you just write that check out and they pay all the taxes.

Your friend's private keeper probably isn't having any of the income appropriately reported and both the keeper and your friend could be in trouble.

LOL
ICs -- are you being treated like employees? (sm)
I filed IRS form SS-8, and boy did I get results!!

It took months. I had to fill out the very detailed form describing my work situation. The IRS then notified the MTSO and had them fill out the form. I just received the ruling that I was in fact an employee, so the MTSO now has to pay back taxes and penalties!!

It feels so good when something works the way it should, doesn't it?
Are you hiring employees or
In my opinion, independent contractor means you can take the work or you can refuse the work.  If you are employing these MTs, then that gives you the right to dictate statements like "work first then play".  Set schedules and hours are for employees and not ICs.  That is where the trouble starts in this profession.  Small MTSOs want ICs that ACT LIKE EMPLOYEES.  Well if that is disappointing to you as an MTSO owner, then so is only making 8 cpl and then having to make a 24-hour turnaround and be at the mercy of the MTSO.  JMO.       I save this kind of dedication for accounts that I have sought out myself (making 13 cpl) not working for an MTSO that only pays a small wage and wants a whole lot in return.       
that's correct, MQ's BOS is for MQ employees
x
Any statutory employees out there?
I'll be starting a new job soon with a service as a statutory employee. I want to get on top of my tax situation now so that come April I won't get hit with a big bill from the tax man.

Any suggestions/guidelines for how much of each of my checks I should be setting aside for taxes? I know that my employer will be paying 1/2 of my Social Security taxes. What about the rest?

Thanks in advance for your help.
then you need to hire employees ... sm
If you need someone to adhere to a strict schedule then you need to hire employees and pay their SS.  I am finding that more and more employers want the best of both world.  They want to pay like an IC and treat like an employee.  Why MTs are putting up with this is beyond me.  If they report the "employers" to the IRS they can be held liable for back taxes. 
maybe...depends on how many other employees
there are on the IM. It may be that others are bugging them constantly.

Do y'all use email for backup communications? It would seem sensible to me to use IM for things that need "now" attention and email for "later" stuff. Can you do that maybe?
at home employees
Several years ago when I had employees working at home, I was told if I required them to work a certain amount, I had to provide benefits. I was such a small businees, I never asked anything other than for the work to be done. I couldn't afford any benefits even for myself. I work for another company now. Hope this helps.
what the other employees get we dont
Full time employees at the hospital have earned time off, sick time, holiday pay, yearly raises, cost of living raises, and insurance. We only get the insurance and have to meet a qouta to keep the insurance every two weeks. Im just trying to find out what we are entitled to as a full time employee because they are really asking alot of us lately that employees at the hospital would be getting compensated at a higher rate for.
employees w/o timeclocks
just hop on for a few minutes outside your shift to get a few lines? or do you type strictly within your shift hours?