Here's a novel idea, writing off SPAM! Has anyone looked into this or done it? I'm a contractor and I have to pay my own taxes. In addition, I'm in the higher tax bracket. Plainly, this sucks.

Anyway, seeing how all of us that work online have to deal with abuse and SPAM issues, etc. Would it not be reasonable to write this off as a cost/time/expense? After all, on average, say I spend 30 minutes each day dealing with and reporting SPAM at my business. I get a lot of SPAM... people charge per incident. Would it not therefore be reasonable and legal to write off 30 minutes of SPAM issues a day? This is a loss to have to deal with and you have to deal with it. Anyone have any ideas or information about things like this? I'm going to talk to the tax guy again and see what's up with this.

Now, that's a great idea... course, I've mostly forgotten what SPAM looks like.

Only actual costs incurred in the conduct of business.

Originally posted by Incognito
Only actual costs incurred in the conduct of business.

But, time is money. Time taken away from paying work. Extra time at work dealing with SPAM.

Originally posted by Tim_Greer

But, time is money. Time taken away from paying work. Extra time at work dealing with SPAM. I suppose what you could do, then, assuming you are filing a schedule C, is to pay an "anti-spam consultant" to handle your spam for you. Then pay that person and it may be a legitimate business expense.

Because as far as the IRS is concerned, your time is not money; only someone else's is.

invoice the spammer and then right it off as a bad debt

Originally posted by Dylan
invoice the spammer and then right it off as a bad debt

I like that idea.

Originally posted by Dylan
invoice the spammer and then right it off as a bad debt Interesting, but really only practical if you invoice everybody who sends you email, so it's a regular business practice. :)

Maybe you could put it down to Cleaning Expenses or Repairs

:confused: