Keen interest in mortgage interest
Filed Under Main Content · Tagged: Bank Charges, Based Business Owners, Bernath, Celia, Chartered Accountant, Entrepreneur, Fair Game, Home Based Business, Household Expenses, Income Tax Return, Keen Interest, Mortgage Interest Deduction, Personal Clients, Principal Residence, Proportion, Residential Mortgage, Square Footage, Toronto, Travel Bank, Vancouver Sun
Vancouver Sun- When Toronto resident Celia Bernath files her annual income tax return, she includes a long list of deductions from her home-office income. After all, as a chartered accountant, she knows that travel, bank charges, postage, courier, utility and other expenses are fair game for the micro-entrepreneur. But the item that sometimes has the most impact is deducting a proportion of her residential mortgage interest.
“The mortgage-interest deduction — like other deductions — is based on the square footage of my office divided by the total square footage of the house. Keeping track of all your household expenses is very important,” says Ms. Bernath who has about 15 corporate and 100 personal clients.
Ms. Bernath is one of the more than 700,000 home-based business owners who might be eligible to deduct a portion of their mortgage interest on their principal residence as an expense…
