I own a landscape business. Does the cost of mulch my customers reimbursed me for have to count twards my gross receipts as income?

[ithinkitsatum]

I'm asking if the cost of products purchased on my customer's behalf and then reimbursed need to count as income. I know that any profit from a price difference must count as income.

[JulieCo · Accepted solution]

Yes, typically all the payments you receive from customers whether for your services or products would be income, if you are doing cash basis accounting.  Then the cost of the items that you purchased and resold would be expenses.  This would then bring your profit to equal your income (all payments received) less expenses (your cost of items you purchased for the business).  Now, purchases for expensive equipment may need to be capitalized and depreciated over a certain number of years if your business does not have enough income to cover the cost of the equipment. TurboTax will help walk you through all these entries on your tax return.

Below are steps to be brought to the Schedule C (self employed business) entry section of TurboTax:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3302122