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Small Business Jul 14, 2026 6 min read
7 Small Business Deductions Cincinnati Owners Routinely Miss
Mileage, home office, health insurance and more — the write-offs that slip through the cracks when the books are a summer afterthought.
Midsummer is a quiet stretch for most owners — and the perfect time to make sure you're not leaving money on the table. Every spring we meet business owners who did everything right except capture the deductions they were already entitled to. Here are the ones we see missed most often.
The deductions that slip through
- Business mileage — client visits, supply runs and bank trips add up fast, but only with a contemporaneous log.
- Home office — if a space is used regularly and exclusively for business, a portion of rent, utilities and insurance may qualify.
- Self-employed health insurance — premiums for you and your family can often be deducted above the line.
- Retirement contributions — SEP-IRAs and Solo 401(k)s lower taxable income while building your future.
- Startup and organizational costs — expenses before you opened the doors may be partly deductible.
- Software and subscriptions — accounting tools, scheduling apps and cloud storage are easy to forget.
- Professional fees — bookkeeping, payroll and tax preparation are deductible business expenses.
Documentation is the deduction
A deduction you can't support is a deduction you may lose in an audit. Keep receipts digitally, reconcile your accounts monthly, and keep a simple mileage app running on your phone.
