What about Other Personal Assets Used for Business?

There are some other common personal assets or expenses that you might use partly for your business, such as your home computer, your cell phone, your land line, or your Internet connection.

Any asset worth more than $200 (such as your home computer) would be depreciated much like your personal vehicle. You would find the value of the asset at the time you started using it for business purposes, depreciate it (use the tax rates for simplicity), and calculate the company's portion of the depreciation. For example, if the total depreciation is $450, and the company uses the computer half of the total time it is used, then the company gets $225 in depreciation expense. The company also owes you this money. For any personal expenses, such as your phone lines and Internet connection, you would simply split the cost according to usage.

Caveat

The treatment of personal assets used in a business varies substantially from case to case. If you were to ask ten accountants how they do it, they'll most likely give you 11 answers. What we have discussed above is a general framework for how to deal with these issues. Because tax law varies between jurisdictions, it's important to discuss these issues with your tax accountant. Once your accountant gives you the structure to follow, you can proceed with confidence.