Taxes — what the numbers mean
First, the disclaimer that is also the philosophy: RefTraq is record-keeping, not tax advice. The app's job is to capture everything cleanly and conservatively so that you — or your CPA — decide with complete records instead of a shoebox.
The Taxes tab, decoded
- Income received — cash basis: money that actually landed this year. Estimates never leak into this number.
- Mileage deduction — logged business miles × the IRS rate for each entry's year (driver-only, per the rules in the Mileage guide).
- Expense deductions — each expense category carries a conservative default deductible percentage. You can override per expense; the defaults are the cautious reading.
- Net profit — received minus deductions: the number self-employment tax applies to.
- Est. SE tax / Est. savings — ballpark figures so you're not surprised in April. Estimates, clearly labeled, never filed anywhere.
The conservative defaults, and why
- Meals: 50%, and only with the sleep-or-rest rule in mind. Meals on a normal day-trip game are generally NOT deductible — the IRS ties travel meals to trips long enough to require sleep or rest. Capture them anyway (capture everything, decide with the CPA later), but the default posture assumes the strict reading.
- Gym / fitness: 0% by default. Courts have almost always disallowed general fitness costs, even for officials. If your CPA disagrees for your situation, override it.
- Per diem received is income, not a deduction trigger. If a chapter pays you meal money, that's reimbursement income — it doesn't make the meal deductible.
- Uniforms, dues, registrations, clinics, gear: 100%. Unambiguously business.
These defaults were argued about, once, properly — and then locked. The app won't loosen them quietly, and neither should you without a professional in the loop.
Schedule C export
One button produces a CSV organized by Schedule C line: income detail, expenses grouped by category and line (meals to 24b, supplies to 22, insurance to 15, the rest itemized under 27a), and the mileage log in IRS format. Hand the file to your CPA — or your tax software — and you're done being the shoebox.