I am trying to get everything together to file my taxes. I am one of those people who isn't good at bookkeeping, and now I am paying the price. It is a lesson learned the hard way as I now search for receipts, print out bank statements, etc...I also printed off schedule c form (but am not sure what to do with it).  

Can anyone tell me what all I need to claim? I know the obvious, such as ingredients, materials, PayPal fees, etc...but what else? Mimifix seems to know quite a bit, so i would love her input. 

How do I claim parts of my electric bill, space used for business, depreciation on equipment, etc? 

Also, I didn't keep up with my mileage, but I do know how many trips I made to certain meting places to deliver, and how many miles it it to and from. Is it too late to claim it since I didn't record the gas cost at the time? 

I also made the mistake of sending my husband several times and using his card (not my business card) on several instances for ingredients...so since I can't prove those, I am just out of luck on those, right? I can only claim what I can prove if I understand that part correctly...which means I may be showing more of a profit than there was, and may pay more taxes.

Ugh...I make a vow here and now to make myself a better bookkeeper, and not have this happen again. 

Anyways, I would love any advice yall can give my poor idiot self...

Thanks yall! 

At a minimum, set up an Excel spreadsheet.  Better yet, buy Quickbooks.

As for mileage, yes you can print out mapquests to and from the places you know you went becasue you have it on your business calendar.  You don't claim the gas, you claim the mileage.

All ingredients are claim-aboe, plus supplies like boards and boxes, etc.

You can pro-rata the electric and utilities ONLY if you have a dedicated space that you bake in.  If you're cottage and doing it in your home kitchen, I don't think you can claim utilities.

That being said, I'm basing this off MY experience with MY account and MY talks with the IRS.  I am NOT an accountant.

Thank you. I didn't know that about the cottage law kitchens. This is exactly the kind of stuff I need to know. And I definitely will be doing spreadsheets from now on. ;) 

Thank you again for the advice.