#Shopify store owners

[lunaamorris]

Key Tax Deductions for Shopify Store Owners

As a Shopify store owner, managing your tax obligations can seem overwhelming. However, understanding the tax deductions available can significantly reduce your taxable income and save you money. In this article, we’ll explore some of the key tax deductions for Shopify store owners that can help you optimize your finances. 

Before diving in, it's also beneficial to work with a Shopify accountant to ensure you’re maximizing your deductions and complying with tax laws.

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)

One of the most significant tax deductions for Shopify store owners is the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). This deduction includes the direct costs associated with producing or purchasing the products you sell. For example, if you sell physical goods, you can deduct the cost of the raw materials, manufacturing, packaging, and shipping costs. Keeping track of COGS is vital for reducing your taxable income.

Business Expenses

As a Shopify store owner, you’re eligible to deduct everyday business expenses necessary to keep your operations running. These may include:

Website Hosting Fees: Shopify charges monthly fees for hosting your online store. These fees are tax-deductible.

Software Subscriptions: Any software tools or subscriptions you use to run your business, such as accounting tools, inventory management software, or email marketing platforms, can be deducted.

Advertising and Marketing: Expenses related to online ads, social media marketing, and influencer collaborations are deductible.

Home Office Deduction

If you operate your Shopify store from home, you may qualify for the home office deduction. To claim this, you must use part of your home exclusively and regularly for business. The IRS allows you to deduct a percentage of your home expenses, such as utilities, rent or mortgage interest, and property taxes. For example, if you use 10% of your home as an office, you can deduct 10% of your home expenses.

Shipping and Delivery Costs

Shipping and delivery costs associated with fulfilling customer orders are deductible. This includes the cost of postage, freight, packaging materials, and third-party fulfillment services. Whether you're using a local courier service or a fulfillment company to ship your products, these expenses are legitimate tax deductions.

Business Travel and Meals

If you travel for business purposes, you can deduct expenses related to airfare, lodging, transportation, and meals. It's essential to keep detailed records of your business-related travel to claim these deductions. However, only the portion of the travel that is business-related qualifies for deductions.

Employee and Contractor Costs

If you have employees or contractors working for your Shopify store, their wages, salaries, and benefits are deductible. Additionally, fees for freelancers or third-party services, such as marketing consultants or graphic designers, are also tax-deductible. Ensure you keep accurate records of all payments made to employees and contractors.

Interest on Business Loans and Credit Lines

If you’ve taken out business loans or use credit lines to finance your Shopify store, the interest paid on these loans is deductible. This includes interest on any lines of credit or business credit cards used to pay for business-related expenses.

Depreciation of Business Assets

If you purchase assets for your Shopify store, such as computers, furniture, or equipment, you may be able to claim depreciation deductions. Depreciation allows you to spread the cost of an asset over its useful life rather than deducting the entire amount in one year.

By understanding these key tax deductions, Shopify store owners can save money and ensure they’re meeting their tax obligations. As always, it’s advisable to consult with a Shopify accountant to help you navigate complex tax rules and make sure you're getting all the deductions you’re entitled to.

[ecomheroes]

Shopify Functions | Shopify Functions APIs

Shopify’s latest announcement: Shopify Scripts Deprecation, use Shopify Functions to add additional functionality instead of Shopify Scripts.

Read more here: Shopify Functions APIs

[nicolasmark]

I am passionate about helping businesses and organizations achieve their marketing goals through targeted and effective email marketing campaigns. Whether you need help building your email list, creating engaging content, or optimizing your email campaigns for better ROI, I am here to help. Let's connect and take your email marketing to the next level!

[madplanetarium]

HELLO!

I am happy to announce that this week I launched an online store with a bunch of my original designs!

Please check out my catalog and share with friends who may be interested! If there are any questions feel free to message me here, on my website, or through email!

I can also be found on instagram and facebook (soon on tiktok and Twitter (X)

[larry01ola]

I will Boost Your Shopify sales, by optimized 10 products in your store for free....

[beautifullymade120]

The Answer To insult is Results invent in your business, have faith and get the passive income flowing it Today!!

[uniquemiracleg]

As you consider enhancing your online presence, I’d love the opportunity to discuss how a website design or redesign could help you achieve your goals. Whether starting from scratch or reimagining your digital footprint, I’m confident we can create a powerful and effective solution. Can you send me a message to explore this further?

Looking forward to connecting! https://zeep.ly/EYyrp #Shopify #Shopifydesign#Shopifystore #websitedesign #ecommerce #redbubble #zazzle #socialmediamanagement #socialmediamanager #sopifyredesign #storeredesign

[paramountbigeal121]

Let's strategize on achieving your goal of more sales by September through targeted digital marketing and optimized SEO tactics.

[dravenrh]

Introducing my vibrant and inclusive LGBT Support T-shirt, designed to celebrate love, diversity, and acceptance for all. This custom-designed shirt features a stunning rainbow motif, symbolizing the spectrum of identities within the LGBTQ+ community.

But what makes this shirt truly special is its embrace of pronouns, reflecting the importance of respecting individuals' chosen identities. With bold lettering proudly displaying pronouns such as "him," "she/her," and "they/them," this shirt sends a powerful message of inclusivity and support.

Whether you identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, or anything else, this shirt is for you. It's a statement of solidarity and allyship, perfect for Pride Month celebrations, protests, or simply spreading love and acceptance wherever you go

Made with high-quality materials and available in a range of sizes, our LGBT Support T-shirt is not just a piece of clothing—it's a symbol of pride, unity, and progress. Wear it with pride and let your support shine bright!

They are part of my 2024 pride month of June collection that will be launching May 20th. This is an insider scoop release & so it’s on my store now for sale to give everyone a taste of what’s to come .

Or on my instagram shop

[joshuaexpert]

Hello store owners , are you in need of Shopify assistance??

Kindly message me now, let’s achieve success together 🥳

[lovethwillcox]

Primowears.com is the store link

[ecomheroes]

What Benefits of Adding a Buy Now Button to A Shopify Website?

Benefits of Adding a Buy Now Button to Shopify Store

Increased Conversion Rates: A prominent "Buy Now" button makes it easier for customers to complete a purchase on the website, which can lead to an increase in conversion rates. This can result in higher sales and revenue for the website owner.

Read the complete benefits here:

https://ecomheroes.dev/blogs/shopify-help/what-benefits-of-adding-a-buy-now-button-to-an-ecommerce-website

[elevatehumanity]

Universal Analytics and Google Analytics Quatro: Understanding How These Tools Help Website Owners

Universal Analytics and Google Analytics Quatro: Understanding How These Tools Help Website Owners

Universal Analytics and Google Analytics Quatro are tools that help website owners understand how people use their websites. They both track things like how many people visit the website and what pages they look at, but they do it in slightly different ways. In Universal Analytics, there are different types of data that can be tracked, like page views, events, and transactions. In Google…

[sleepnoises]

hi! apologies if you've been asked this before, but do you have any advice for first time online store owners? i'm thinking about opening one to sell sculptures of my own but i've got no idea where to start, and was wondering if you had any tips to share.

anyways, i love your charming little clay fellows and i hope you have an excellent new year 🤎

i may have been asked it but i can always answer again! tagging this with "clay ask" so you can review past answers

tips:

it's fine to start small and go slow and not optimize everything right away. sculptures are a luxury good and they will usually not immediately start flying off the shelves.

that said: it's nice to track what time you're spending on what. just block it out on google calendar after you're done so you can tot it up at a later time. this tip is super hypocritical but i've done it in the past

i use and like big cartel for my storefront. it doesn't have the fees of etsy or the will sell your stuff twice if people buy it really fast of storenvy. it also doesn't have the discoverability of either, so you'll have to try harder on other social media, but it's a worthwhile tradeoff for me. i don't know anything about shopify and i won't learn

i like pirate ship for shipping labels; it talks directly to big cartel (and a lot of other storefronts!), gets good rates, lets you preview hypothetical packages to check shipping costs, and lets you save package presets. i have a shipping label printer but you should be fine with a regular printer + packing tape.

try to make some reliable size classes of sculpture so you can use a few package settings and not recalculate shipping every time

i try not to buy shipping material from uline because they love trump soooooo soo much. if you have anything local, that's generally a smart call for last minute supply runs, especially because shipping on boxes is spendy. i like upaknship.com for jazzy bubble mailers. i haven't researched their politics but at least they aren't uline

do not put anything particularly delicate in a bubble mailer. i assume you can guess this but a friend once mailed me a plant pot in like. a plastic bag with some shredded paper. so i don't trust what people know about distribution of force in packaging.

you want pressure to be pretty evenly distributed. you don't want anything to be able to twist or bend or snap or rub against itself. you want your packed mailers and boxes to not make any noise when you shake them or to "clunk!" when you drop them on a table from a foot or two up. if you're worried about dropping them that far you have not packed them right.

people will often give you packaging materials if you say you're collecting them

it's nice to have a tape gun... i inherited mine from a childhood neighbor who was a wonderful lesbian

take very careful notes on expenses and income. expect about 25% of $ that comes in to go to taxes (i'm in CA, this might vary)

have a cute logo :) just for fun

these are my THOUGHTS. enjoy!!

[notfinancialadvice]

Shopify has a blog problem, this creates a really simple and straightforward opportunity for freelance designers/programmers

Earlier this year I settled the editorial decisions I needed for a lot of blogging going forward, and recently I've experimented (repeatedly) with the idea of having a blog on a separate platform, or using Shopify's system.

Having two sites would allow me to blog on a WordPress site, but creates... two sites, therefore complicates everything more. More maintenance, design, etc. etc.

I am actively seeking to make my life easier so I am foregoing two sites and learning to live with the limitations.

A personal struggle to the surprise of no one.

You can use WordPress and thread Shopify through it via the "buy" button, which is a shortcut for small stores and/or larger stores where you are very comfortable in WordPress.

You cannot use Shopify and thread WordPress through it.

Which is a shame.

Because Shopify's native blog platform is fucking horrible.

An independent graphic designer who can program, or a programmer who can design, cannot solve Shopify's problems.

They are inherent to the system and likely built on legacy code Shopify doesn't want to update because it'll cost a fortune.

I'll just be mad about this until the market forces them to address this opportunity and they revamp their blogging platform. That's fine.

Or maybe decades will pass and they won't. That's... fine too. I guess.

I am rambling this out because if I were in the business of freelance graphic design and/or programming I would jump on this immediately. I used to be and always shared opportunities with friends and it was fun and I kinda miss that aspect of the life.

I'm not in that business, and I have in-house programming, please don't pitch me, but do consider pitching... pretty much everyone with a Shopify site and a blog as Phase 01 of your plan, and everyone who has a Shopify site and does not have a blog as Phase 02 of your plan.

Here is what I would tackle:

Shopify blogs have two structures: "blog" and "blog post".

A blog in Shopify is essentially a category in WordPress, with more limitations, such as, a blog post can only be in a single "blog". That sucks but it means your life as a designer/developer gets more interesting.

Most Shopify themes come out of the box with 1 "blog" and 1 "blog post" template. They are exceptionally simple, usually. I would build a few test templates and offer them to clients "these will be modified to fit your direct style."

For some reason -- I'm guessing focus -- most blogs in Shopify have the image on top. If you structure "image on the left, image on the right" as options you can offer clients, you've just tripled their layout capabilities.

For another reason, I don't know why, but almost all shopify blog post templates I've seen do not have sidebars. Which is insane?! You can control that from the fucking "blog post" template so it would be an easy win.

You could work around the "a post can only be in one blog on Shopify" issue by having a sidebar that pulls the latest 3 (or 5 or whatever) posts as links for other blogs on the site: TEST SITE has 3 blogs. When you're looking at a post on BLOG 01, in the sidebar, you see a link to the latest post on BLOG 02 and BLOG 03. Similarly, when you're looking at a post on BLOG 02, the sidebar has the latest post from BLOG 01 and BLOG 03 (and so on)

The template I use, off the shelf, uses the Shopify's user name and details for the author of the blog. Once a blog post is created, in Shopify, you cannot alter the author. This is dumb as fucking rock salt on slug popcorn. But, again, systematic, I'm pitching ideas on ways around it -- exclude this and just use a CUSTOM DATA field to allow the Shopify owner to pick the relevant author. This cuts down on the need for extra Shopify users, tremendously, and builds in the opportunity for WordPress-style author footers on blog posts.

Emulate the very common filtering on products -- dropdowns, sorting mechanisms -- with tags on a sidebar on BLOG templates. This will be tricky because you cannot hook into the Search & Discovery function, but it's absolutely no where near impossible. And would be amazingly useful.

Overall Shopify is a decent platform with significant advantages.

There blogger apps but holy shit that is so unnecessary. If they were a one-time-fee, it would be fine, but they aren't, they're generally $20+/month.

I'm not interested in paying for a service that ties me into another tech system that I am fucked if they go out of business, jack up their prices, introduce a feature I don't like, or remove a feature I do like.

For something like a blog system.

Which relies HEAVILY on very structured, single-built, near-infinitely-reused templates.

A low effort, high yield opportunity exists for independent designer/programmers to come up with a suite of designs and say "hey with some very simple modifications, we can take 1 of the following, apply it to your store, and dramatically increase your in-site blogging opportunities."

You start with a base "blog post" template and a base "blog" template and then every time someone hires you to add a feature to theirs, using Shopify's core tech -- you're just applying paint -- you now have a second set of templates.

Recycle forward.

One time fee per client -- likely low, but again effort is low since 90% of the code is re-used -- and each time you secure a client, you have opened a networking door.

Just make sure you include instructions and/or a premium service for when the customer upgrades their theme version -- "occasionally your theme author will upgrade, and this may get lost... so do the following to bring it back and/or we'll handle it for you for $X and Y-days notice."

Business opportunities are everywhere.

Good luck!

I repeat don't add me to your pitch list, I have a programmer in-house, but use this idea to make a business or extend yours!

This isn't financial advice, it is annoyed rambling!