What Is a Write-Off?

What Is a Write-Off?

Let me explain what a write-off means in accounting. When your business faces unreceived payments, unpaid loans, or lost inventory, you make an accounting entry called a write-off to record these losses. This entry directly reduces your taxable income on the income statement.

Key Takeaways

You should know that a write-off is an accounting adjustment to record unpaid debts or recognize a loss in value. It applies to scenarios like unpaid bank loans, unpaid receivables, and losses on stored inventory. Ultimately, a write-off reduces taxable income on your income statement.

Accounting Entries

Businesses like yours use write-offs to account for losses, following Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for the required entries. There are two standard methods: the direct write-off method and the allowance method.

In the direct write-off method, you expense bad debts by crediting the accounts receivable on the balance sheet and debiting the bad debt expense on the income statement. With the allowance method, you write off an uncollectible customer's debt by removing the amount from accounts receivable.

For bank loans, financial institutions use write-offs after exhausting collection efforts, tracking them with loan loss reserves—a non-cash account that anticipates losses on unpaid debts. Loan loss reserves project these debts, while write-offs are the final step.

For receivables, you might incur a write-off if a customer defaults on a bill, involving a debit to an unpaid receivables account as a liability and a credit to accounts receivable on the balance sheet.

For inventory, write-offs account for items that are lost, stolen, spoiled, or obsolete, with an expense debit for the value of unusable inventory and a credit to inventory on the balance sheet.

Tax Credits and Deductions

The term write-off broadly refers to actions that reduce taxable income, including deductions, credits, and expenses. As a business or individual, you can claim deductions to lower your taxable income.

The Internal Revenue Service lets individuals claim a standard deduction or itemize if it exceeds the standard level, reducing adjusted gross income for the tax rate. Tax credits directly lower the taxes owed.

Corporations and small businesses have various expenses that reduce taxable profits. An expense write-off increases expenses on the income statement, which lowers profit and taxable income.

Write-Offs vs. Write-Downs

A write-down reduces the book value of an asset below its fair market value—for instance, damaged equipment that's still partially usable or debt where the borrower repays only part of the loan.

The key difference is in degree: a write-down is a partial reduction, while a write-off means the asset no longer produces income or adds value.

What Business Expenses Are Considered a Tax Write-Off?

The IRS allows businesses to write off expenses that reduce taxable profits, such as office supplies, rent, insurance premiums, and internet or phone bills.

How Is Profit and Income Affected by a Write-Off?

You use write-offs to account for losses, typically with a debit to an expense account and a credit to the associated asset account. These expenses appear on the income statement, deducted from revenues, resulting in lower profit and taxable income.

What Are Common Losses That Businesses Write-Off?

Common scenarios include unpaid bank loans, unpaid receivables, and losses on stored inventory.

The Bottom Line

Understanding write-offs and how they differ from write-downs can help you reduce taxable income and improve the accuracy of your company's financial situation.