Last Updated September 6, 2024
Calculating business expenses is no easy task. Sure, simple addition is the only math involved, but the hard part is keeping all of these expenses organized and easily accessible—along with knowing what costs specifically constitute as a business expense.
Whether you’re a business owner or a business accountant, our free and easy-to-use business expense calculator allows you to quickly input your costs in one place and see how much money you’ve spent. Regularly tracking your business expenses is also crucial for when tax season rolls around, helping you determine which expenses might be tax deductible.
How to Use Our Business Expense Calculator
Follow the steps below to total up all of your business’s expenses.
1. Identify Which Expenses Apply to Your Business
Not every expense listed below might not be applicable to your business. For example, if you’re running your business from the comfort of your own home, you won’t need to apply a figure to the “rent” field.
2. Locate and Apply Your Costs
You should have an organized spreadsheet tracking all business expenses. Identify these costs, apply them to the categories listed in the calculator below in your own spreadsheet or document, and add them together.
3. Input Your Expenses and Click “Calculate”
Once you’ve categorized all expenses, you can input them below. Once you click the “calculate” button, you will see a dollar amount below the “calculated value” field. This figure is your grand total.
What Are the Most Common Business Expenses?
- Rent: Renting out office space is known to be one of the costlier business expenses, unless you’re running a business from home.
- Transportation: This might include purchasing or leasing a company vehicle, or even gas usage, which can actually be tax deductible.
- Salaries and Wages: Whether you have full-time employees or short-term contractors to help you with various projects, you’re likely going to find that wages make up a significant portion of your business expenses.
- Loan Payments: Don’t forget to apply debt if you’ve taken out a loan. Keep in mind that there are certain financing options that don’t involve paying money back, such as invoice factoring.
- Lease Payments: The same goes for paying suppliers back for leased items, which include fixed payments.
- Computer Hardware and Software: This ranges from the computer itself to software you’ve downloaded to help manage your business, such as accounting software.
- Equipment Maintenance and Repairs: Whenever your equipment has been damaged, replaced, or required maintenance, it’s crucial to jot down how much it costs for future tracking purposes.
- Marketing and Advertising: Online marketing has become a game-changer for business owners, but there can be significant costs for running online ads or perhaps investing in an SEO service.
- Office Supplies: A straightforward business expense, specific office supplies can range anywhere from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars. Every penny counts though when running a business, so don’t brush aside smaller items.
- Shipping Costs: Depending on your type of business, shipping costs could either be substantial or insignificant. Keep tabs on these costs throughout the year.
- Insurance: Workers compensation, general liability, professional liability, commercial auto, and commercial property are some of the most common required insurance coverages.
- Depreciation: Depreciation of assets, which you can calculate by looking at an item’s replacement cost value and life expectancy, can be an often-overlooked cost of running a business.
- Licenses and Permits: Registering your business legally involves more than just forming an LLC. There are also licenses and permits you’ll need to obtain, some of which will likely be industry specific.
- Subscription Dues: Anything that you are paying for on a recurring basis can fall under this category. Just remember not to duplicate expenses, for example, if you’re paying for a subscription for an SEO service, determine whether that falls into this category, or marketing and advertising.
- Miscellaneous Expenses: Anything not listed above that you have paid for.
Michael McCareins is the Content Marketing Associate at altLINE, where he is dedicated to creating and managing optimal content for readers. Following a brief career in media relations, Michael has discovered a passion for content marketing through developing unique, informative content to help audiences better understand ideas and topics such as invoice factoring and A/R financing.
