10 Tax Deductions You May Be Missing For Your Massage Therapy Studio
Solo massage therapists are notorious for leaving money on the table.
Are you?
Welcome back to another Monday with the Mavens. We created the Massage Mavens blog to connect with and educate self-employed massage therapists working to grow as business owners.
It can be lonely working for yourself – and we’re here to remind you that while you’re in business for yourself, you don’t have to be in business by yourself.
While we cater our content to independent MTs, all massage therapists are welcome here; whether you run your own independent massage therapy studio, you contract in a clinic, work in spa, or you are still in school.
10 Tax Deductions and Business Expenses You May Be Missing For Your Massage Therapy Studio.
Gosh I just love tax season, don’t you? (*insert eye roll here*)
Let’s take a minute to make sure you’re not leaving any money on the table (literally).
Are you remembering to track and claim all the business expenses / tax-deductible items you’re elligible for?
In a perfect world, you have organized all of your business financials. You have a business bank account and credit card for expenses, you have all your accounts talking to Quickbooks for simple Profit & Loss statements, and you even sit down once a quarter to organize your mileage and pay your Quarterly Estimated Taxes, so your’e right on track for tax time, and probably don’t even owe a dime!
BUT!
This is the real world. Not a perfect world. And April is usually a stressful time for small business owners as we realize we owe the feds their piece of our pie…
So. Let’s take a minute to make sure we keep as much of our own pie as possible.
(Can you tell I’m hungry? All this talk of pie…)
Ten Items You’ll Want To Claim:
1. Subscription Software.
Acuity, Vagaro, MassageBook, Squarespace Website renewals, Pandora, Spotify, and other software systems that you use to run your business are usually business expenses. Be sure to log those charges!*
Ideally things like this are set up to automatically charge themselves to a business credit card, which is linked to a program like Quickbooks to help you quickly categorize expenses. But for those of you who pay for both work and personal life on the same CC - be sure to search those transaction records for all-things massage! And claim them!
2. Commuting to Networking Events.
For those of you detail-oriented readers, technically mileage isn’t a business expense unless it’s a business vehicle - but mileage on your personal vehicle is deductible - so tracking it over the year and telling your accountant about it is still worthwhile.
Mileage adds up quickly; especially when they’re miles you’re driving for your business. If you attend a weekly networking event, or a quarterly happy hour, those miles are probably tax deductible.*
3. (A Portion Of) Your Home Utilities.
Do you do massage laundry at home? Some of your water and power may be deductible.* Finding the energy and water usage of your washer and dryer per load requires some Googling, but once you know the metrics, you can figure how much power and water your massage laundry is using throughout the year, and write that off as a business expense.
4. Your Phone.
If you text clients, check email, take business calls, or run a scheduling app via your personal phone, you may be able to write off a portion (if not all) of your phone bill as a business expense.*
5. Professional Liability Insurance.
Massage therapists are required to carry liability insurance in order to do business. That means it’s a business expense.*
6. Licensing Fees.
Massage therapists are required to maintain a valid license to practice massage. That license usually comes with a renewal fee. Keep the receipt and log that sucker as a business expense.*
7. Transaction Fees.
Do you accept Credit Cards, or have a Venmo Business account? Log in to those accounts and export a fee statement at the end of each year for your bookkeeper to reconcile. That’s money your studio *earned* but did not keep, and should get logged as such.*
8. Uniform and Shoes.
Do you have clothes you wear specifically to work? Scrubs? Danskos? A jacket with your logo on it? If it is used exclusively for work, it may qualify as a Uniform, and be tax deductible.*
9. Square Footage and Utilities of Home Office.
Do you own your own home? Is part of your home dedicated exclusively to your massage studio? Take note of how many square feet are used exclusively for business, and send that information to your tax preparer bundled with your yearly house-related paperwork. They will likely be able to deduct a proportionate amount of your home expenses as business expenses.
10. Business Development Books.
“Book Yourself Solid” or “Massage Is Weird” or “Massage MBA” or “The 4 Disciplines Of Execution” or or or... (you get the picture)
If you are buying books (or other) to solve problems that you are facing in your business, then they are probably business expenses. Keep those receipts and log the charges accordingly.*
DISCLAIMER: The items mentioned in this article are items that my own tax preparer and bookkeeper have advised me about over the years. But at the end of the day, I’m just a massage therapist, not a tax specialist, and this article is only meant to get you thinking about where you’re leaving deductions and expenses on the table. It’s not meant to be hard-and-fast tax advice. I highly encourage you to approach a tax professional in your area to learn about best practices for your state and your business.
Thanks for stopping by!
As always, we’d love to hear how our content has helped you improve either your studio, your mindset, or your revenue as a self-employed massage therapist.
Rachel Martin, LMT, is an independent massage therapist living in Denver Colorado. Having built her solo massage studio to capacity, she now spends her free time helping other massage therapists do the same. Check out The Bodyworkers Business Collective, Queen Street Marketplace, and The Techy MT to learn more.
