Tax deductions for small manufacturers, in plain language.

What is in the checklist?

Questions, not tax code. Each line asks whether you paid for something — an office, a phone, a licence, a meal with a client — and tells you what counts, what only counts partly, and what to watch. Where the arithmetic is simple, the sheet does it. Where it is not, such as equipment, mileage and the home office, you enter what you paid, and the sheet tells you to ask about the specifics, because the answer depends on your circumstances.

Three tabs: the checklist itself, the things people assume count and do not, and the records to keep so that every line survives a question from a tax agency.

What do small and mid-size manufacturers routinely miss?

• Credits that may be available. Shops that improve products and processes every week rarely think to ask.
• Tooling. Expensed when it should be spread, or spread when it could have been expensed.
• Freight in. Filed as overhead instead of as part of what materials cost.
• Scrap and rework. A real cost that vanishes because nobody counts it.

None of these is exotic. They are missed because they are paid once a year, or land on the personal return instead of the business, or feel too close to personal life to claim. The checklist asks about each one directly.