What can a writer deduct if he hasn’t sold a book yet?
March 5th, 2018 → 10:47 am @ Carol
What can I deduct on my taxes if I haven’t sold a book yet?
You can deduct any start up expenses which, for a writer, might include:
- Consultation with an attorney or accountant
- Research expenses including travel and book purchases
- Pre-publication expenses for editing, layout, cover design, etc.
It looks suspicious to the IRS to have a lot of expenses yet no income, so you may wish to delay deducting these start up expenses until you have income (or at least the book is available for sale) and consider that year to be the start of your business.
I discuss this option in my book Business Tips and Taxes for Writers
It’s been updated to include the new changes to the tax laws!
Carol Topp, CPA
Tags: author, business deduction, start up expenses, tax deductions, tax return, writer
