3 Things You Should Know About Small Business: August 24

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- What's happening in small business today?

1. Tax deductions small businesses are likely leaving on the table. Small business owners know what it's like to pinch pennies, especially as they get their businesses up and running, so why not take advantage of the tax deductions available to businesses?

Small businesses can deduct many expenses, including materials for products, business travel expenses (which includes the miles you put on your car to go to the post office to mail packages), home office expenses, which could potentially include electricity, gas, and even mortgage/rent as long as the room is dedicated solely for working purposes, according to a guest post by Outright on Meylah.

Other things that could be deducted include "business aids," such as software, magazine subscriptions, and anything that helps run your business more efficiently. Keep in mind, saving receipts will be key to prove to the IRS that you have indeed spent the correct amount of money you have deducted when filing.

2. Are startups becoming boring? Business Insider thinks so given that we've just come out of a very exciting time in the tech world, where four big names -- LinkedIn(LNKD) , Groupon(GRPN) , Zynga(ZNGA) and Facebook(FB) -- went public and the next tech star, Instagram was snapped up by Facebook.

In addition, for the first time in a long time, exciting stuff is coming from big companies -- Google's(GOOG) self-driving cars, Apple's(AAPL) iPad, and Amazon's(AMZN) same-day delivery exploration, BI says.

Startups that were expected to be big like Airtime, Brewster and Viddy were letdowns.

Now the consumer tech startup space is too crowded, particularly as it gets easier and less costly for businesses to launch. Some say the era is ending.

"The interesting innovation now is happening in business-to-business and infrastructure, which doesn't seem as intellectually interesting but can have a large impact," one investor told BI. "Business-to-consumer might just be tapped out for the moment after a good 5+ year run."