Nobody likes to talk taxes, but it’s that time of year again: time to gather your receipts and all your information for the accountant or other person who is going to do your taxes.
But are you missing a deduction? You might be if you aren’t taking copies of your self-storage receipts to your tax preparer.
Only your tax adviser can tell you for certain, but chances are that your storage facility is a deductible expense if you are itemizing your taxes. For people who are in the process of selling their home, a storage unit can be a deductible expense. After all, you had to put your stuff somewhere when you staged the house to sell it.
Another taxpayer who might be able to deduct the cost of his or her storage unit is someone who is moving. Short-term storage can be a legitimate moving expense!
Business owners who use self-storage for extra inventory or to house records that must be kept for a certain period of time may also be able to deduct some or all of their storage costs. In fact, for some business, since their only physical location is a storage facility, all of the associated costs might be deductible.
If you are a small business owner or intend to otherwise itemize your taxes, now is a good time to contact your tax professional to find out what other records you might need to bring along. Tax laws can be confusing, but planning ahead and working closely with a tax professional may just save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars. So the next time you pay that storage bill or visit your storage unit, use it as a reminder to check one what deductibles you might have been missing.