These are very important points! Buying superfluous things simply to offset your tax burden can quickly end up costing more than whatever you “saved”. If you consider the deductions as a way to help offset costs on more expensive items you need to get work done, versus only buying expensive items to increase your tax deductions, you’ll be less likely to fall into this situation. It’s tricky either way.

Another tax lesson – I had an accountant steer me early on to spend too much for the wrong reasons. The accountant said to spend more in certain places so that we’d have more deductions, which lowers what you owe in tax. This had two implications: 1. Missing out on retirement contributions. Contributing to a SEP IRA (or solo 401k) will lower your tax liability as much as meals eating out – and will go a lot further. 2. Having lower net income; this can affect your ability to buy a house or car in the future. If you decide to buy a house, the bank looks at how much you earned (after expenses) to determine how much of a loan you will qualify for (how much you can afford to pay). Even though it might help your taxes to buy a bunch of plugins or gear, it might make your earnings look a lot lower than you can actually afford. Only buy what you need – don’t buy just to have lower taxes.