10 Tax Deductions For Massage Therapists You May Be Missing
Self-employment taxes are a bear.
Are you making the most of your deductions?
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 You May Be Missing
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 these business expenses?
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!*
2. Commuting to networking events.
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 up front, but once you know the metrics, you can deduce 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
Most service providers - like massage therapists, estheticians, acupuncturists, lash artists, & etc - are required to carry liability insurance in order to do business. That means it’s a business expense.*
6. Licensing Fees
Most service providers are required to maintain a valid license to practice their trade. 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 log a proportionate amount of your home expenses as business expenses.
10. Business development books
Book Yourself Solid, Massage Is Weird, Massage MBA, The 4 Disciplines Of Execution, etc etc – if you are buying books 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 educated me about over the years. But at the end of the day, I’m just a self-employed massage therapist, not a tax specialist, and this article is only meant to get you thinking: not 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 Six Figure Studios, Queen Street Marketplace, and The Techy MT to learn more.
