Self-Employment Expenses

Nicole  | 

As I mentioned in my previous post “Expat Taxes – Can you do them yourself?” I am slowly learning the process of completing my own taxes. Now, my taxes aren’t straight forward – I own a Limited Liability Corporation, which means I have business tax expenses. I have student loans, which I have interest as a deduction. I have some investments and dividends, and I have an IRA.

I have always tracked my own expenses on a spreadsheet (Yes, I know- there are apps by the millions to do this) but I am stuck living in manual-land under a rock. I did my best based on limited knowledge to make tabs to “help” my accountant. Surely, they didn’t help now that I know more.

The first thing I’ve started working on is researching all of the self-employment expenses that can be deductible. I made a much bigger, badder spreadsheet that makes more sense to which items are deductible and a main page with each category, an explanation of what is considered and not considered deductible within that category, and which line on the tax return that will be entered.

Step 1: I’m currently working through my credit card statements to fill out the spreadsheet with expenses placed into the proper tabbed categories.

The War on House Plant Mealybugs

Nicole  | 

Have you heard of mealybugs? They are fuzzy white insects that infest plants, feasting on the sugar within the crevices and leaves of the plant, eventually sucking out all the life from them.

They’re extremely contagious to other plants and apparently, they “walk” at night to other sections of the plant and to other plants!

I have never witnessed these bugs before and first noticed them on my very long, beautiful pothos leaves which looked like a residue. The plant lives next to an open window so I chalked it up to that and cleaned the leaves with water and a towel. Little did I know, the infestation had begun.

I have no clue where this started, as I had that plant for months. I did get a new plant which sat at the bench below the dangling vines. My best guess is I brought the mealybugs home with this new plant and they hitch-hiked onto my beautiful pothos.

Soon enough, I realized that there was something more than a residue on my plant. With a simple google search, I figured out exactly what the infestation was and could even see with the naked eye full-size mealybugs, fuzz and all.

Photo by Ravi Kant: https://www.pexels.com/photo/macro-photography-of-a-mealybug-5136274/

I immediately quarantined the plant in the kitchen above the refrigerator away from all other plants in the house. I took hours to clean every single leaf and crevice of the plant with 70%+ isopropyl alcohol, as the internet suggested. This was a heck of a task the first time. I figured after doing it once, I would just need to watch for stragglers. Wrong.

These terrible creatures hide and procreate like there is no tomorrow. Soon enough, the plant was fully infested again.

The internet suggests when it gets to this point, it’s likely in the soil as well. The best bet is to throw out the plant and start anew. But then there’s me… the stubborn one.

Last week I began plucking out piece by piece of the pothos, cleaning each piece from root to leaf. I placed them in glass jars on my terrace – still quarantined. I figured the cleaning must have done the job finally. Wrong again. I checked them days later and low and behold- mealybugs. Not a lot, but some.

I read a little more and found about making a spray of half 70%+ isopropyl alcohol mixed with half water and a few drops of dish soap. I decided instead of making a spray because most of the mealybugs were hiding in the crevice where the leaf meets the stalk, I made it into a bath.

The already displaced pothos pieces- I washed the pothos from root to leaf with a toothbrush and dish soap, and doused them into the alcohol bath. The spray recipe said to rinse off after 5-10 minutes, so I after the bath, I set the pothos on a paper towel with a 10 minute timer. I then rinsed them thoroughly and placed them back into the jar with fresh water and returned them to the terrace.

I dug up a few extra pieces from the main plant and repeated the process. The longest vines (close to 5-6 feet) are still in the war zone with the mealybugs. I ran out of alcohol, so I will get more tomorrow and make a larger bath for them. I hope this solves the issue so I can replant them and get them back to their barren shelf in my bedroom.

Expat Taxes – Can you do them yourself?

Nicole  | 

I’m going to figure that out!

I am now living in Mexico City with my Mexican temporary residence. I’m self-employed so I have had an accountant in Michigan handling my taxes for the past six year. Now that I’m fully settled in as an official expat, I’ve been learning about expat taxes and some of the specialties related to them. My accountant has decided it’s best that I find an accountant who specializes in expat taxes.

I’ve reached out to some of the expat tax specialists here in Mexico City, and have had unfortunate experiences with them not following through. I’m taking this as a sign that I get the opportunity to use my Finance degree and Accounting classes from university to learn if I can successfully accomplish completing my own taxes.

I’ve been researching like crazy about the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, changing my LLC to an S-Corp and deciding what seems to make the most sense for me, my company and my bank account.

I will post along my journey of exploration of doing my own taxes – for 2023 (I have an extension) and 2024. I hope writing it out will be helpful to me and anyone else curious to learn and do their own taxes as an expat.

Please keep in mind that I am NOT a tax professional or an accountant. I plan to complete my own taxes and then have them checked over my a professional before submitting them. I suggest that any questions that you have regarding your tax situation and what is best for you to be consulted with a tax professional or accountant.