As a small business owner, you can avail of different tax deductions to lower the tax you are going to pay the government, especially if your start-up house cleaning business is still struggling to survive. There are several items that can be tax deductible only if you know where to look for them. Consulting a tax professional is recommended if you are intent on lowering the tax payments of your house cleaning business.

The following are some of the common business deductions you can avail of:

• Vehicle expenses. A small business owner like you can deduct vehicle expenses when you visit your clients and prospective clients away from your office. The vehicle or travel expense you incur when you purchase you cleaning supplies is one hundred percent deductible business expense. Every time you clean the house of a client, you will incur vehicle expense and the same can also be tax deductible. You can use the standard mileage rate which for the second half of 2008 is 58.5 cents per mile. You can also opt to deduct the actual expenses for items such as gas, tires, oil changes, repairs, preventive maintenance, insurance and registration. Make sure to keep a log of your mileage and keep all the receipts of all the expenses of the vehicle that you use in your house cleaning business.

• Depreciation. You normally deduct the entire cost of the business-related purchases you make in one tax year, like for example cleaning supplies. When you purchase business assets that will be used beyond a tax year, you need to spread out the deduction over the expected life of the asset you purchased. If you purchase a vacuum cleaner that is expected to last three years, the cost of the vacuum cleaner purchase will have to be spread to three years. The concept of spreading out over the life of the asset the purchase price is called depreciation. Assets can be depreciated if they are used in the business to help produce income and it is expected to last for more than one year.

• Home Office. If you use a portion of your house as the office for your house cleaning business, you can deduct from your tax the pro-rated portion of the property tax you pay for your house. Example, you use as your office for your house cleaning business the den in your house which is equivalent to 25 percent of the floor area of the whole house and you are paying $6000 property tax for your house, $1500 which is 25 percent of the total property tax, can be deducted from taxes that you are going to pay.

• Insurance premium. Insurance expenses that are necessary in the operation of your house cleaning business is tax deductible. They include insurance premiums for coverage for losses of unpaid debts, casualty and theft insurance, professional liability insurance also called malpractice insurance, accident and health insurance, overhead insurance, and coverage for the vehicles you use in the operation of your house cleaning business.

There are other forms of deductions which you can avail of for your house cleaning business so it is recommended that you consult tax professionals.

For more: How to start a cleaning business