IS there a way to deduct ingredients that you dont use that have expired or went bad, such as old fondant and expired items that you throw out unused? If so, how do I show that on my tax forms and how does it get entered or how is it deductable I guess is what I am saying...

Also for orders that were cancelled after the cake was made, I had one of those this year? is there a way to deduct that as well?

Thanks!

You don't say if you are filing a business return, or if you are declaring "self-employed" income on a personal tax return.  So the following may or may not be relevant.

Discarding expired perishable ingredients is a required part of foodservice.  You expect a small percentage (about 5%) of consumables to be discards, and they count as legitimate  business expenses. No need to itemize discards--just put all those purchase slips into the "expenses" column of your accounting.

Track discards for your own benefit to avoid the loss of profit.

If somebody cancelled a cake, you had no income other than a nonrefundable deposit.  If you made the cake and it cost more than the deposit, then you should be collecting a larger deposit.  If you are called in for an audit, you would have to explain a habitual overspending (many cancellations) but one cancellation is again the expenditure of supplies and time that doesn't have a corresponding income. 

Some people donate cancelled cakes to charitable organizations and ask for a receipt for the retail value to use as a  deduction from their personal tax return.

Believe me--even a formal audit by the IRS is not going to ask where each package of fondant went. Not unless you are showing a major loss (like over $10,000) for more than one year in a row past your startup year.

AThe ingredients you purchase should be deducted when you purchase them, whether or not they were actually used is irrelevant (provided they were not used for personal use).

ok thank you for responding. So the answer is a big no.. lol, if you dont use your ingredients, its your loss.

thanks guys! I appreciate your help and quick answer, o and yes it was pertaining to a business tax return.

AActually the answer is yes, all ingredients used for your business are deductible, whether they were used for a completed order, used for a cancelled order, or thrown out. What you can't do is take another deduction if you throw them out since you should have already deducted them when you purchased them.

ok thank you, I totally understand now:) My husband thought because some buckets of fondant were too old to use and I threw them out that i should be able to deduct some additional loss even though we already claimed the bucket as an expense, lol. I told him no and he said post it on the forum, lol and ask. Thank you!!  He thought that.. that particular expense would be counted at a higher percentage rate of deductable i guess than the regular write off expense already counts as.

Thank you for your previous responses:)

AYeah, the IRS tends to frown upon people taking deductions for greater than 100% of the value of the item being deducted. ;)

bhahha, he probably didnt know that expense was 100%, we are still learning what is 100 percent and what is half etc.. our accountant takes care of it all for us, we just turn in our reciepts to her, we do use cake boss software but we are still learning all the ins and outs, since we only meet with her a few times a year, its hard to remember exactly what is what sometimes.  it seems like alot of stuff changes each year as far as percentage that gets deducted, all the categories..

LOL, thank you bakingirene! Im going to make him read this post to be sure he is getting everything correct. I be he did not know all of that, he does put ingredients, paper products and office supplies in seperate areas, but I bet he did not realize it is all 100% deductable, so thank you!