Business expense spreadsheet

This is the monthly business expense spreadsheet as a form rather than a grid: ten categories chosen to map onto the lines a small business return asks for, one figure in each, and the totals that matter computed on the page. It shows the month's total, the deductible total with meals at half, the fixed costs that recur whether you sell anything or not, and what the month implies for the year. The figures are a worked example to overwrite with your own; the categories are the point.

Why meals sit in their own column

Under 26 U.S.C. 274(n) the deduction for food and beverages is limited to 50 percent of the amount spent, with narrow exceptions. A spreadsheet that adds meals into supplies or travel carries the full amount into a deductible total it is not entitled to. This sheet shows the meals line, the deductible half beside it, and a deductible total that already uses the half, so the number you hand to your accountant is the right one rather than one they have to correct.

Fixed costs are the floor the month has to clear

Rent, utilities, software and insurance are due whether the month was busy or dead, so the sheet totals them separately as fixed costs. A business that knows its fixed floor knows the revenue it needs before the first variable dollar is spent, and a month where variable spend grew while revenue did not is visible as a ratio rather than a feeling. Everything else on the sheet moves with activity and is the part you can actually manage month to month.

What a monthly sheet is for at year end

The annual run rate on this page is the month times twelve, which is a planning figure, not a return. The return wants the actual twelve months, each in its categories, with the receipts for any single expense of $75 or more and for lodging under 26 CFR 1.274-5. PerDiemDesk Pro keeps each saved sheet as that month's claim, attaches receipts to lines, and exports the year in one file; the free sheet is the month, on the page, for nothing.