Can I pad background and credit check costs?

[Brian W.]

Can I pad background and credit check costs thus compensating me for my time and effort?

[Jon Holdman]

Do you mean can your charge your applicants more than it costs? Unless there's some state law that limits this, you can charge whatever you want.

But this is income on your tax return. If you charge a $40 application fee and you pay $19.95 for the check, you would include the $40 as income and the $19.95 as an expense.