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business expense

business expense

10 3.0
A cost you pay while running a business, often needed for work
  • noun
  • /ˈbɪznəs ɪkˈspɛns/
  • Specialized
translation icon : gasto de empresa
  • Profit is the money you have left over after your business income pays for its business expenses.
  • deduct business expenses
  • deductible business expenses
  • tax-deductible business expenses

One thing I've wondered is like, how do you look at business expenses that are monthly obligations?

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Examples

  • All those things are business expenses that can come out of your business accounts legally per the IRS.

  • Also include any house fees as a business expense and save all of your receipts.

    Blog text (28)
  • It's a standard business expense.

  • We regard it as a necessary business expense.

  • Profits are a means to pay business expenses.

    Academic text (1997)
  • Just chalk it up to a business expense, and we'll move forward.

  • Want to SAVE over $60,000 in business expenses this year?

    Blog text (22)
  • Other expenditures may qualify as business expenses.

    Academic text (2004)
  • But when you operate as a business, not a hobby, you're entitled to deduct legitimate business expenses, reducing your tax burden at year's end.

    Academic text (2011)
  • You can claim office supplies as a business expense when preparing your tax return.

Synonyms

expense
vsbusiness expense
524 2.7

An amount of money spent for work or business

is narrower, focusing on ordinary necessary costs important for taxation
overhead
vsbusiness expense
  • Specialized
42 4.9

Regular costs of running a business like rent and utilities

is wider, including other ordinary necessary costs for tax purposes
operating expense
vsbusiness expense
  • Specialized
8 4.7

A regular cost for running a business, for example rent or electricity

is the broader tax-focused concept covering ordinary necessary company costs
trade expense
vsbusiness expense
  • Specialized
3.4

A cost a business has when running its normal work, like travel to meet clients

is the general label for ordinary tax-deductible costs of running a firm

How Costly

big-ticket
15 5.1
capital expenditure
  • Specialized
4 6.4
business expense
  • Specialized
10 3.0

Surface Forms

Morphology

business + expense

The meaning is directly and predictably built from 'business' (commercial activity) + 'expense' (a sum of money spent): together they denote a cost incurred in running a business. This straightforward noun-noun composition follows common cross-linguistic patterns, so even if tax-deduction nuances are specialized, a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand the basic meaning.

Etymology

The phrase business expense joins business, meaning 'work', and expense, meaning 'money spent'. Imagine a shopkeeper buying supplies or taking a client to lunch and keeping the receipt to show the cost was for the business, so a business expense means a cost needed to run a business and is often used for 'tax purposes'.