6 Fundamental Tax Tips for Entrepreneurs Follow these simple rules to maximize your money--while staying on the IRS's good side.

I had lunch with a fellow financial writer the other day. Naturally, the topic turned to taxes. "I almost went out and bought a couple of iPads recently," my friend told me. "It's the end of the year, and I thought it'd be a good way to get a write-off."

"Why didn't you?" I asked.

"I realized it was a dumb thing to do," she said. "It's a mistake to make business decisions based solely on taxes."