So I went to the library yesterday and picked up a pile of books on starting a business, and women in small business, and bookkeeping and stuff. It's answering some of my questions, but for every answer--or part answer--I find, I come up with three more questions.
There's always the SBA, and Charleston has another group just for women starting businesses, but this is *not* a tech center and most of those are traditional businesses. So I'm not sure how much help they'd be when most of my really *wanna know* questions are solidly online business-based. Questions like:
If I sell ads directly instead of using a network for everything, is it a sale? Is it a sales tax-type sale? Do I need a DBA for my blog name? And what about business licenses?I don't know, maybe the local small business groups *could* help. The books sure are, but not with the internet bit, and I've no interest in buying a "everything you wanted to know about blogging and taxes" ebook. I probably need to figure out other businesses that do similar things, and find out how *they* do it. Something like the local free newspaper, or those newsletters you find in coffee shops with ads down the sides.
I have a strange suspicion that this stuff is why people hire lawyers and accountants when they have *real* businesses. Hopefully hobby status gets a girl some leeway. I don't wanna end up in jail or owing piles in back taxes just because I didn't know better.
Can't help you with the taxation, as it isn't really my area of work... but if you google "taxes and blogging", the first few results seem to be quite packed with info. Overall, taxes shouldn't be much of a concern unless this "business/hobby blogging" generates over $600 in a calendar year. From the books, you might want to start looking at the freelancing section and not much at the self-employed, employee/employer portion of them.
ReplyDeleteThe blogging doesn't, no. But I'm not really trying, either. I should make enough for the year with "other" internet stuff to still file all the random other tax paperwork at income tax time. I'm trying to take what I can use from the books and skip the rest, but it'd probably be easier if there were a (physical, actual) book *just* with what I need to know.
ReplyDeleteActually, there probably is, and they just don't have it anywhere near here. Maybe i should check ILL...
Meanwhile, long live the mercenary life.
Not sure if I understood what you meant by 'make enough for the year'. You have to have $600 min from a single employer in order to report, not $200 here, $300 there, $101.50 from elsewhere. At least that's the way my tax lady has explained it, so back when I was in school, I had three jobs, she only report on one of them (can you say poor HS/college student?), because the other two were, well, paying less than $600 in a calendar year.
ReplyDeleteHowever, you can include that in your taxes as misc. income with no 1099 tax form (and I believe it does not affect your overall taxes that much if at all, unless it pushes you up or down a tax bracket, which shouldnt at such low quantities). By adding it to misc income, that will increase your total income, which you mentioned you would need to provide proof of income for some thing or another (taxes are a great way to do that).
Everything I've read says $400, to account for the fica and stuff. I think I'll be spending some serious time with my income tax textbook in the next couple months. Technically, once you meet the minimum for filing, *all* income should be reported.
ReplyDeleteI'll make more than $600 through TB, anyway, and I'm due a refund (I'm pretty sure) from the taxes I paid before my job ended earlier this year.
But yes, once I get myself organised and established, taxes are a great way to prove income.