By Jason Alderman

Calculating income taxes is a royal pain, even when your situation is uncomplicated enough that you can file a 1040EZ Form. And if you're self-employed, be prepared for extra layers of complexity. Not only must you file an annual return with numerous additional forms and schedules, you're also responsible for paying quarterly estimated taxes, which can mean having to write a pretty hefty check while waiting for your clients to pay their overdue bills.

Add in that you're also responsible for funding your own health insurance and retirement and you may start to miss having an employer manage a portion of your financial affairs. (Although many people go into business for themselves precisely to call their own shots.)

Here are a few things to remember when calculating your 2013 taxes:

First, some potentially good news for taxpayers who claim a home office deduction: You now may choose between the traditional method of calculating the business use of your home (which involves numerous calculations, filling out the onerous IRS Form 8829 and maintaining back-up records for years) and a new simplified option.

Under the new, so-called "safe harbor" method, you can simply claim a standard deduction of $5 per square foot for the portion of your home used regularly and exclusively for business, up to a maximum of 300 square feet - a $1,500 limit.

Contrast that with the traditional method where you must calculate actual expenses of your home office expressed as a percentage of the square footage your home office consumes. For example, if your office takes up 12 percent of your house, you can deduct 12 percent of your electricity bill.

A few additional details:

• You can choose either method from year to year; however, once you've elected a method for a given tax year it's irrevocable.
• Under the safe-harbor method you cannot depreciate the portion of your home used for business in that particular year.
• With the new method you can still claim allowable mortgage interest, real estate taxes and insurance losses as itemized deductions on Schedule A. These deductions don't have to be allocated between personal and business use, as under the traditional method.

You'll need to weigh whether the recordkeeping hours you save justify the potentially smaller deduction - especially if you have a large home office or considerable deductions. Suggestion: Look at last year's deduction and compare what it would have been using the $5 per square foot calculation, factoring in time spent doing the math.

A few other self-employment tax-filing considerations:

• In addition to the home office deduction, you generally can deduct many other business-related expenses, including: legal and accounting fees; professional dues and subscriptions; business insurance and licenses; professional training and education; professional equipment and software; maintenance/repairs; and business-related mileage, travel and entertainment.
• You can also deduct the full cost of medical, dental, vision and long-term care insurance premiums for you, your spouse and dependents, even if you don't itemize deductions.
• For more details on business expenses and deductions, see IRS Publication 535 (www.irs.gov). Also visit the IRS' Self-Employed Individuals Tax Center.

Bottom line: Income taxes are often more complicated for self-employed people and good recordkeeping is essential. Unless you're an accounting whiz, consider hiring a tax professional or financial planner who specializes in self-employment issues. The penalties and fees they can help you avoid - and hidden deductions they can uncover - will probably more than pay for their fees.

Jason Alderman directs Visa's financial education programs. To participate in a free, online Financial Literacy and Education Summit on April 2, 2014, go to www.practicalmoneyskills.com/summit2014.

Senator Chuck Grassley issued the following comment about cuts to the Medicare Advantage program announced this afternoon.  Senator Grassley is a senior member and former chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which is responsible for Medicare policy and oversight.

"The announcement made today by the Administration emphasizes the reality that the Affordable Care Act built in cuts to Medicare Advantage.  In Iowa, we fought hard to have access to Medicare Advantage so that seniors would have more choices and the range of valuable services available to seniors in other parts of the country.  With the payment cut specified today as part of Obamacare, more Iowans will find they can't keep the health care coverage they have."

Measure Would Help Alleviate Poverty and Drive Economic Growth

WASHINGTON - Governor Pat Quinn today met with President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and senior administration officials at the White House to discuss raising the federal and Illinois minimum wage rates. Governor Quinn's ongoing fight to raise Illinois' minimum wage is in line with President Obama's push to raise the federal minimum wage. The Governor first proposed raising the minimum wage in his 2013 State of the State address and today's meeting with the President is part of his agenda to alleviate poverty, drive economic growth and ensure that all Illinois workers are treated fairly.

"Hundreds of thousands of people across Illinois are working full time but are still trapped in poverty," Governor Quinn said. "Numerous studies have shown this common-sense proposal is good for workers and the economy. Raising the minimum wage is the right and decent thing to do and I thank President Obama for his leadership and commitment to getting this job done."

"Governor Quinn is doing extraordinary work in Illinois to lift their minimum wage and give more hard-working Americans a raise," President Obama said.

Today's meeting builds on growing momentum to raise the minimum wage across the country. Just this week, The Gap Inc. acted to raise its own minimum wage to $10 for all U.S. employees. The move is expected to impact 65,000 American workers and more than 4,000 employees in Illinois.

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. President Obama is pushing to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10. The Governor is working to raise Illinois' minimum wage from its current $8.25 per hour to at least $10 per hour.

A full-time minimum wage worker in Illinois makes around $16,600 annually, which is well below the Federal Poverty Threshold of $19,790 for a family of three. Six in 10 minimum wage employees are female, including many single parents. The Governor supports raising the minimum wage over the next two years.

The $8.25 per hour Illinois minimum wage, which hasn't been increased since 2010, is less than half of the average U.S. hourly wage. By increasing the Illinois minimum wage to $10, a half-million Illinois consumers will make an extra $4,800 a year and much of that extra income will typically be spent at local businesses on food, clothing and furniture, providing a strong boost to the local economy.

Studies conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago show that an increase of $1 in the minimum wage generates approximately $2,800 in consumer spending per year, greatly improving purchasing power and strengthening the economy. A recent survey found that nearly two-thirds of small business owners support raising the federal minimum wage because they believe it will help the economy and, in turn, enable them to hire more workers, according to a poll conducted by the Small Business Majority. Leaders from large companies such as Costco, Starbucks and Stride Rite also have supported increasing the minimum wage as a way to reduce employee turnover and improve workers' productivity.