Five Last-Minute Tax Deductions for 2024

Plus holiday goodies!

Photo by John McArthur on Unsplash

As a professional creative who is required to file in two countries, it took me a long time to love doing my tax prep. Once I got into the mindset of being a detective on the hunt for possible deductions, though, I began not only to tolerate it, but even to enjoy it.

I’m not a tax accountant, so please always check with one in your area to make sure your deductions are allowable.

Books are a Potential Revenue Stream

Both the IRS and CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) see each book as a potential future revenue stream; therefore, many book-related expenses are deductible. I’m not familiar with HMRC, the UK tax agency, but my understanding is that authors can take similar deductions. Again, please consult with a tax professional in your area.

Who Can Deduct What?

• If you’re self-employed, and you’re working on a book that relates to your primary profession or expertise, the tips below should help.

• If you’re a full-time employee, this becomes a little trickier. My understanding is that there’s a dollar cap on how much you can deduct from all your book-related costs. In addition, you probably can’t deduct business use-of-home, but you probably can deduct coaching to become a stronger writer, or editing of your professional work.

• If you’re retired, tax agencies are likely to look at whether you’re approaching the book as a business venture or a hobby. If you approach it as a business, you will likely be able to deduct many book-related expenses. This is probably the trickiest of the three groups, though, so make sure you check with a tax accountant.

Five Categories to Consider

Here are five areas where your investments today could minimize what you owe in April (none of these are affiliate links).

1. Tech refresh: How old is your laptop? Your cell phone? Printer? Ring lights? Do you have a good mic for podcast interviews or creating videos? All of these should be deductible. Some are 100% deductible in the year of purchase; others are ‘depreciable,’ meaning a percentage is deducted each year for X number of years. (The exact number varies depending on the item.) Although we’ve passed the week of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, there’s still Boxing Week to come…
   

2. Professional development: Well, hello there! This category includes (ahem) writer coaching, editing and writing retreats or residencies, as well as online courses and webinars, speaker coaching and writing conferences. ‘Tis the season to sign up for next year’s writer coaching and writing conferences. (p.s. I have some December deals on writer coaching at the end of this newsletter)

I’ve changed my coaching packages to reflect sessions rather than months (in most cases). While writer coaching often works best in sequential months, that’s not always an option. Packages are discounted anywhere from 10% to 25% from the single-session price. You can receive an additional 10% off by reading to the end of this newsletter!

3. Software: While I don’t recommend having all your software subscriptions renew in the same month (unless you have a fortune to spend), December is a great time to invest in new software that can help to build your writing career or business. For example, I use Canva Pro (and love it), though you can easily do plenty with the free version of Canva. Scrivener is an excellent writing program for both Mac and Windows. There are many, many others—software could be a whole newsletter in itself!
   

4. Research: Research is one of my favorite stages of writing, because I just get to learn. Books in any format; podcast, website or magazine subscriptions related to your topic; market research, legal analysis, archive access, data analysis and more—all should be deductible, as long as they relate to your book topic.
   

5. Website hosting, design and maintenance: To build a platform—essential for selling a nonfiction book—I always recommend creating a website where you can gather email addresses and build a mailing list. At the very least, you’ll need to purchase a domain name (you can’t go wrong with your name; your book title may well change by the time it’s published) and hosting services. If you want to get fancy, you can hire a website designer to help you reach the right people and capture their emails.

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Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

Holiday Goodies!

You can receive a 10% discount on any of my services by doing one of the following before December 20:

• Donate at least $100 to your local food bank (send me a photo of the receipt)

• Book any six- or 12- month coaching package (already discounted 15% to 25% from monthly rates) and receive an additional 10% off.

• Refer a friend before December 20, and if they hire me, you’ll receive 10% off your next edit or coaching package.

Become a supporter (paid subscriber) and receive bonus coaching! [psst… subscriptions are also deductible!]

You might see the terms “free” and “paid” on Substack, along with different subscription levels. All posts will remain free to all subscribers. However. I appreciate “patronage” subscriptions. To that end, I’ve created the following bonuses that aren’t time-limited:

• Become an annual subscriber ($120 USD) and receive an extra 30 minutes of free coaching (combined with a free consultation, that’s 60 minutes total per year)

• Become a Supporter ($240 USD) and receive two one-hour coaching sessions for less than the price of one every year.

• If you know someone who would benefit from writing craft and process insights, along with publishing ones, consider giving them a gift subscription. As the giver, you will receive the above rewards for each gift subscription (Annual or Supporter).