ADHD Entrepreneur: 5 Business Expenses You're Probably Not Writing Off
Tax season had either just ended is or the filing deadline is coming in how depending on where you live. Have you filed yet? If you have YAY, you survived! But my you may not feel like it because for many (okay, probably most) entrepreneurs with ADHD the cycle looks like this: damn, we got through tax time and it was a $hit show, next year I’m going to be more prepared ⏩⏩ fast forward a year and it looks exactly the same.
And no matter where you are this tax season, you're likely sitting there with this nagging feeling that you missed stuff. Expenses you could have written off but didn't because you forgot to track them, or didn't realize they counted, or the receipts are somewhere in the void between your email and that drawer in your kitchen.
If you have ADHD and run a business, this probably feels painfully familiar.
You're not trying to commit tax fraud. You're just trying to remember what you spent money on the last year while your brain was running in seventeen different directions. Tracking business expenses requires sustained attention to detail, consistent record-keeping, and remembering that yes, that thing from February actually counts (if you can remember what that transaction actually was).
Who wants that??!!!
Let's talk about the business expenses ADHD entrepreneurs most commonly miss, why we miss them, and how to actually catch them going forward.
Why ADHD Entrepreneurs Miss Deductions
Before we get into the specific expenses, let's be real about why this happens.
**You're focused on right now, not tax season six months from now.** When you're buying something for your business, you're thinking about the immediate need, not whether you'll remember to categorize it correctly later. Future You who has to do taxes? That person doesn't feel real.
**Expenses blur together.** You use the same credit card for business and personal. You buy something that's 70% business, 30% personal. You're working from your kitchen table so technically your whole house is your office? The lines get fuzzy fast.
**The tracking systems fall apart.** You start the year with a beautiful spreadsheet or app. By March, you've got receipts in your email, photos on your phone, and a pile of paper statements you're afraid to open. The system worked until it didn't.
**Nobody told you that thing counts.** Some business expenses are obvious. Others aren't. And ADHD brains don't naturally think "I should research whether this random purchase is tax-deductible."
You're not bad at this. You're running a business with a brain that makes certain types of administrative tasks (or potentially all of them) incredibly challenging. That's worth acknowledging.
The 5 Business Expenses You're Probably Missing
*Note that these vary based on where you live
1. Home Office Expenses (Even If You Don't Have a Dedicated Room)
Here's what a lot of ADHD entrepreneurs don't realize: you don't need a separate, dedicated office room to claim home office expenses.
If you use part of your home regularly and exclusively for business, it counts. That corner of your bedroom with the desk? The section of your dining table that's permanently covered in work stuff? Those can qualify.
What you can deduct:
- A portion of your rent or mortgage or the interest you paid on your mortgage
- Utilities (electricity, heat, internet)
- Renter's or homeowner's insurance
- Repairs and maintenance for that space
The percentage is based on how much of your home you use for business, and if it is a dedicated work space or a shared work and personal space. If your workspace is 10% of your total square footage, you can deduct 10% of those expenses.
Why ADHD entrepreneurs miss this: The paperwork feels overwhelming. Calculating square footage, tracking all your home expenses, figuring out percentages. It's a lot of details to keep straight, so we just... don't.
How to make it a little easier: Take a photo of your workspace. Measure it once (just once!). Set a reminder to grab your rent/mortgage statement and utility bills at tax time. You don't need to track it monthly. Just get the annual totals. Many utility providers and mortgage lenders will provide you with an annual summary which can save a lot of time.
2. Mileage and Vehicle Expenses
Every time you drive somewhere for business, that's a deductible expense. Client meetings, networking events, going to the post office to ship products, driving to get office supplies.
Look up the options for calculating this where you live. There are often a dollar amount per km/mile or looking at overall expenses for gas/maintenance and total kms/miles and the % that were used for business.
What counts as business mileage:
- Driving to meet clients or vendors
- Going to networking events or conferences
- Running business errands (bank, post office, supply runs)
- Driving between work locations (if you have multiple)
What doesn't count:
- Your regular commute from home to a fixed workplace
- Personal errands, even if you think about work during them
Why ADHD entrepreneurs miss this: You forget to track it in the moment. By the time you get home, you can't remember if that trip to Staples was 8km or 15km. Or whether you even went to Staples this month.
How to make it easier: Use an app that auto-tracks mileage (MileIQ, Everlance, even Google Timeline). Or keep a small notebook or calendar in your car and jot it down immediately. "Client meeting, 24km round trip." That's it. I don’t track business mileage anymore because I’m 100% virtual, but when I did, I did it once/month on a calendar by looking back at my meetings and using google maps to calculate the distance. I shocker had a phone reminder to help me stay on track.
And here's the thing: even if you only remember to track 60% of your business mileage, that's still way more than not or writing off any of them!
3. Software Subscriptions and Digital Tools
You're paying for Canva Pro. Adobe Creative Cloud. QuickBooks. That project management tool you swore you'd use consistently. Your CRM. The email marketing platform. Zoom. Cloud storage.
Every single one of those is a business expense.
What you can deduct:
- Design and creative software
- Accounting and bookkeeping tools
- Project management platforms
- Email and communication tools
- Website hosting and domain names
- Password managers (if you use them for business)
- Any app or software you use to run your business
Why ADHD entrepreneurs miss this: These charges are small, they're automatic, and they're scattered across different credit cards and bank accounts. You forget they're even happening because you set them up once and then your brain filed them under "done, don't think about it anymore."
How to make it easier: Once a year, go through your credit card and bank statements looking for anything that ends in ".com" or has "subscription" or '“recurring'“ in the description. Highlight the ones that are business-related. That's your list.
Make it even easier by having dedicated bank and credit card accounts for business so you decrease your odds at missing things with everything mixed up in different accounts with personal transactions.
4. Professional Development and Education
Courses, workshops, conferences, books, coaching, memberships. If it helps you get better at what you do for your business, it's deductible.
This includes:
- Online courses related to your industry
- Business coaching or consulting (and financial coaching 😉)
- Professional association memberships
- Industry conferences (including travel and accommodation)
- Books and audiobooks related to your work
- Workshops and training sessions
Why ADHD entrepreneurs miss this: We don't think of learning as a "business expense." It feels personal, like self-improvement. Plus, if you bought that course in a moment of hyperfocus and never finished it, you might feel guilty claiming it.
But here's the truth: you bought it for your business. Whether you finished it or not, the intent was professional development. It counts.
How to make it easier: Search your email for receipts from course platforms (Teachable, Kajabi, Udemy, Skillshare). Look for coaching payments. Check if you paid for any professional memberships or conference tickets. I like to set up a separate folder in my email for each business year and move any emails related to business expenses to the folder so they are easy to find.
5. Meals and Entertainment With Clients or Business Contacts
Coffee meetings. Lunch with a potential client. Dinner after a networking event. Taking a collaborator out to celebrate a project launch.
In Canada and the US, you can deduct 50% of qualifying meal and entertainment expenses. That coffee meeting where you spent $12? You can write off $6.
What qualifies:
- Meals with current or potential clients
- Coffee or lunch meetings to discuss business
- Taking a team member or contractor out to discuss work
- Meals during business travel
- Food at networking events (if not already included in the event cost)
What doesn't qualify:
- Eating lunch alone at your desk (that's just... lunch)
- Grabbing dinner with friends (or your partner - sorry Jason), even if you mentioned work once
Why ADHD entrepreneurs miss this: You pay with your personal card because you forgot your business card. Or the receipt is crumpled in your bag. Or you genuinely can't remember if that lunch meeting was business or personal because it was three months ago and the person is both a friend and a colleague.
How to make it easier: When you're at the meal, take a photo of the receipt and add a quick note: "Coffee with Sarah, discussed website redesign." That's it. Your accounting software or tax preparer can deal with the 50% calculation later. If you use a bookkeeping software check to see if it can help you with this.
Bonus Expenses You Might Be Missing
If five wasn't enough, here are a few more that ADHD entrepreneurs often overlook:
**Office Supplies and Equipment**
Pens, notebooks, printer ink, that standing desk you bought, your ergonomic chair, the monitor you're using right now. If it's for work, it's deductible.
**Phone and Internet**
If you use your phone or home internet for business, you can deduct the business portion. Even if it's just 30% or 50%, that's something.
**Bank Fees and Merchant Processing**
Monthly account fees for your business bank account. Transaction fees when clients pay by credit card. PayPal or Stripe fees. All deductible.
**Advertising and Marketing**
Facebook ads, Google ads, your Canva subscription for creating social media graphics (yes, again - it's that important), website costs, business cards, promotional materials.
**Professional Services**
Your accountant. Your bookkeeper. Your lawyer. Your business coach. Your web designer. Anybody you pay to help run your business.
Remember: This Isn't About Perfection
You don't need to track every single expense perfectly. You don't need a flawless system that never breaks down. You need to capture as many as you can. Even if it's messy. Even if you're estimating some of it. Even if you only remember 70% of your business mileage or can't find all your meal receipts.
The goal isn't to be the entrepreneur with the perfect expense tracking system. The goal is to stop leaving money on the table because your ADHD brain makes certain kinds of administrative tasks harder than they need to be.
Small Actions You Can Take This Week
Pick one. Just one.
Set up a mileage tracking app - Even if you only use it sometimes, that's better than never.
Search your email for subscription charges - Look for anything ending in .com and highlight the business ones.
Take photos of your workspace - Measure it. Write down the square footage. That's your home office documentation.
Review last month's credit card statement - Circle anything that was business-related that you didn't already track.
Create a folder for receipts - Digital, physical, doesn't matter. Just one place where business receipts go.
You're not trying to become a different person. You're trying to build systems that work with your brain instead of against it.
Need Help Getting Your Business Finances Organized?
If you're reading this thinking "I have no idea what I spent money on or what's deductible and I feel completely lost, maybe it’s time for help. While I don’t help my clients with bookkeeping, I do help create money management systems for business and personal finances that make your life easier. If you’d like to chat book a free call to see if we are a good fit to work together.
We build money systems for your business that work with your ADHD brain. Systems that don't fall apart when life gets chaotic. Systems that make tax time less of a nightmare.
Not ready to invest in yourself yet? My free ADHD Money Starter Kit can help you start building clarity around your finances.
And if you're wondering about more business money topics, check out this blog post: ADHD Entrepreneur: Should You Offer Payment Plans to Clients?
Remember: You're capable of tracking your business expenses. You just need systems that actually work for how your brain functions.
