-I am retired and building custom furniture out of my house to keep me busy. I do run this as a business but only write off legitimate expenses. No, I do not write off a portion of my house as my business. No I do not write off my equipment as a business expense unless the equipment or supplies will be used up during the year. I want to keep it simple and not have to buy back my wood working equipment from the government if I ever close my business. If you write off you equipment and close the business you are going to owe the government the value of all that equipment.

-I have been operating my business for just over 10 years. The first thing I would say is that if you are going to start a business, you cannot do so just to write off tools. You have to start your business to make money. You will only get away with loosing money for a couple of years, then you would be expected to make money. If you don't then you will be audited and your busness declared a non busness and all the rightoffs you made will be writenoff and you will have to pay back that taxes you did save pluse interest and maybe a fine.

So, be carful to have your intentions clear and correct before you start. A business plan is a good place to start. There is no tax advantage in the long run in loosing money on a business.