I am an indepedent contractor emergency physician. Can I set up a home office? Can I deduct mileage to and from work?

1 Setting up a home office is not that hard to do...1. You need to section off an area of your home for that purpose.a. I recommend outlining the area with at least a semi-permanentmethod, which could be using duct tape on the floor to make theoutline.b.

Measure the area for it's square footage as compared to thesquare footage of the rest of your home.2. Take pictures of the area before and after the furniture has beenset in place. A.

Make sure there is nothing in the "room" that doesn'tbelong there. That would include children's toys... Make sure theseitems are NOT in the pictures...3. Get a separate phone number for the office.4.

Get real Office Furniture instead of trying to incorporate homefurnishings into your office. Among other things it is more 'professional'.5. If you use a portion of your garage for storage, lay out duct tape onthat floor as well, and measure it.

Take pictures. 6. Maintain meticulous records.7. Read IRS paraphernalia on the subject:http://search.irs.gov/web/query.html?col=allirs&charset=utf-8&qp=&qs=-Wct%3A%22Internal+Revenue+Manual%22&qc=&qm=0&rf=0&oq=&qt=home+office8.Don't forget to set up a pension plan for yourself.

Check out SEP's...Deducting mileage 'to and from work' is another story altogether. Are you going to make "House calls"? If so, there's a chance you might have a legitimate deduction if you are leaving your office, but also returning to it to continue your work day.

Generally, you cannot deductfor travel from one job to another. You probably ought to have a secretary or office assistant from the outset,preferably someone with good business sense to go with record keepingabilities and to help you with presenting your 'business' in it's best light. Even if it is more than you can afford at the start.

And, don't forget a pension plan for your employee.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.