Starting a painting business...?

I plan on starting a painting business in CA with my father who has 20 yrs experience in this field. My plan is to file all the papers to make our business legitimate i.e. business name, tax filing, and contractors license, however my question is regarding the money we spend prior to being a legal business entity. How will the money now on tools, equipment and other things be counted toward my business taxes?

You should still be able to use the value of these items as legitimate business expenditure to count against tax .... after all - without these items you can't have a business - and most businesses don't usually set up and trade until they have all the facilities in place that allow them to do so .... you may need to check with your tax office - if they weren't new at the start of business they may give you a figure to start with that allows for depreciation .... they may also tell you from what date you can claim business expenditures .....