Can I deduct equipment expenses for a job I began overseas?
A computer is a special case because the IRS thinks that you might be using it for personal applications.    You may need to keep a log, or be able to state that you also have another computer for non-business use. That said, if your schedule C shows a small profit then you don't need to itemize expenses, just state the total. I'm not an expert, but here's my $0.02. Deductions for business expenses are subject to the 2% rule. In other words, you can only deduct that which exceeds 2% of your AGI (Adjusted Gross Income). For example, say you have an AGI of $50,000, and you buy a laptop that costs $800. You won't get a write-off from that, because 2% of $50,000 is $1,000, and you can only deduct business-related expenses in excess of that $1,000. If you have an AGI of $50,000 and buy a $2,000 laptop, you can deduct a maximum of $1,000 ($2,000 minus 2% of $50,000 is $2,000 - $1,000 = $1,000). Additionally, you can write off the laptop only to the extent that you use it for business. So in other words, if you have an AGI of $50,000 and buy that $2,000 laptop, but only use it 50% for business, you can only write off $500. Theoretically, they can ask for verification of the business use of your laptop. A log or a diary would be what I would provide, but I'm not an IRS agent.
"Office jobs are being automated and/or shipped overseas. Accounting used to require A LOT more people to run a decent Accounting Department at a company. With advances in computers and software, my company halved the staff in our department 10 years ago.  With how my industry (health care) in consolidating at a rapid pace, many more accounting jobs will be lost because of administrative redundancies. Two, 1 billion dollar companies merging into ONE, a 2 billion dollar company can function with the accounting head count of one of the company's Accounting Departments. The Accounting softwares scale very easily.  Legal work is being farmed out to Indian legal companies specializing in American Law. Hollywood routinely sends their legal work overseas to these firms to cut costs. Law has been hit really bad this recession and I doubt it will ever ""recover"" to pre-recession employment levels with advent of legal templates and software that automate a lot of the boiler plate legal work that lawyers used to be able to charge for." Which explains why my job as a high school English teacher did not sustain my family and I without part time jobs, summer jobs, and getting into some debt. My wife stayed at home with our three children for the first 11 years.   When I finally began a new year-round teaching job at a youth prison, we could finally own a nice home and decent car. But it was very difficult. We returned birthday presents and I worried a lot about making enough money for our family.  We did not have health insurance for the first seven years of our marriage because we wanted to be able to eat. For stocks, bonds, ETF funds and so on - Taxed only on realised gain and losses are deductible from the gain and not from company's income. Corporate tax is calculated only after all expenses have been deducted. Not the other way around. Real estate expenses can be deducted because of repairs and maintenance.  In general all expenses related to the operation of the business can be deducted. But you cannot use expenses as willy nilly, as you assume. You cannot deduct your subscription to Playboy as an expense. Doing it is illegal and if caught, the tours to church will increase exponentially. VAT is only paid if you claim VAT on your invoices. Your situation seems quite complicated. I would suggest, get an accountant pronto. There are nuances in your situation, which an accountant only can understand and help. you should see the amount spent on 2 rotations of troops at home to support the 1 rotation overseas, as well as the necessary infrastructure to support those troops, home and overseas, as well as all the equipment and maintenance of equipment that is included in that blackrock contract, as well as housing, meals, medical, medical for families, pensions, and long-term care afterwards. http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/96xx/doc9688/MainText.3.1.shtml#1089499 Be ruthlessly meticulous about the IRS regulations for deducting a home office.  If it's allowed, it's allowed. "It will count as income, and you can deduct as much of your moving expenses as allowed by tax laws.   If you also count it as a reimbursement, then you're double-taxed - once for the income and again by reducing your moving deduction. The ""reimbursement"" amount is designed for when you get literally reimbursed for exact expenses directly, bypassing the tax on that compensation. The only difference will be that you (and your employer) pay FICA and medicare on the ""relocation bonus"" that you wouldn't if you were reimbursed.  Also, with a reimbursement you are not incentivized to minimize the cost of your relocation (since it's not your money you're spending).  With a bonus, since you get to keep whatever is left over, you have a vested interest in keeping your expenses down." If it's a legitimate cost of doing business, it's as deductible as any other cost of doing business. (Reminder: be careful about the distinctions between employee and contractor; the IRS gets annoyed if you don't handle this correctly.) "About deducting mortgage interest: No, you can not deduct it unless it is qualified mortgage interest. ""Qualified mortgage interest is interest and points you pay on a loan secured by your main home or a second home."" (Tax Topic 505).  According to the IRS, ""if you rent out the residence, you must use it for more than 14 days or more than 10% of the number of days you rent it out, whichever is longer.""  Regarding being taxed on income received from the property, if you claim the foreign tax credit you will not be double taxed. According to the IRS, ""The foreign tax credit intends to reduce the double tax burden that would otherwise arise when foreign source income is taxed by both the United States and the foreign country from which the income is derived.""  (from IRS Topic 856 - Foreign Tax Credit)   About property taxes: From my understanding, these cannot be claimed for the foreign tax credit but can be deducted as business expenses. There are various exceptions and stipulations based on your circumstance, so you need to read the official publications and get professional tax advice. Here's an excerpt from Publication 856 - Foreign Tax Credit for Individuals: ""In most  cases,  only  foreign  income  taxes  qualify for the foreign tax credit. Other taxes, such as foreign real and personal property taxes, do not qualify.  But  you  may  be  able  to  deduct  these other  taxes  even  if  you  claim  the  foreign  tax credit for foreign income taxes. In most cases, you can deduct these other taxes  only  if  they  are  expenses incurred  in  a trade  or  business  or  in  the  production  of  in­come.  However,  you  can  deduct  foreign  real property taxes that are not trade or business ex­penses  as  an  itemized  deduction  on  Sched­ule A (Form 1040)."" Note and disclaimer:  Sources: IRS Tax Topic 505 Interest Expense, IRS Real Estate (Taxes, Mortgage Interest, Points, Other Property Expenses) , IRS Topic 514 Foreign Tax Credit , and Publication 856 Foreign Tax Credit for Individuals"