Freelance Taxes
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- jpea0
Also, but a house. That'll save you untold millions with write-off's.
- mbr0
I'd recommend a business credit card too. I buy everything business related, from computers to lunch, on one card. Makes organizing things at year end as easy as printing pdf reports (and you have a clear and clean record of every purchase).
- sofakingzero0
can you write off your car payment? I have always been sketchy on doing this... the truth is I keep my new car around for looks, I would be happy with my beater, but i think it looks bad showing up to a client meeting in a beater.
anyone try this?
- kerus0
re: writing off rent
i would try to roughly figure out how much of your apt is your "office"
if its 1/10th then write off 1/10th of your rent PLUS the shitter!
yes dont forget, taking a dump is a business necessity as well- You have to eat to live, but you can't write off all your food. I don't see how the shitter's deductible if you can't deduct food.AndyRoss
- sofakingzero0
what about your electricity bill, do you guys write a percentage off that?
- I do as part of using sq footage of my house as office space.seed
- flashbender0
sofakingzero: My accountant syas yes, we've talked about this (my car is paid for though, but when I was thinking of anew one) You can either write it all off or you can play it safe and write off the same percentage as work mileage vs. total mileage
Regarding rent & such, I writh off the percentage of the square footage of my office compared to the rest of the apartment. You can also write that amount off of all your utilities.
That's the "safe" route, I'm sure other accounts can find more wiggle room as they say.
- cosmo0
Anything else I would need to know?
- visualplane_0
I wear clothes at client meetings. Can I write off clothes? =P
- flashbender0
funny thing is some people do. I talked to my guy about that and depending on your industry it can be legit. But writing off work clothes for a designer is big red flag ... UNLESS you design similar clothing and then you are "gathering material for inspiration" which is legit. Keep your receipts. Shoes count for inspiration and color studies too. DVDs count for interactive studies. Keep those receipts.
- skelly_b0
Be creative with how you spend your money. You want to take a trip somewhere, look for something biz related, so you can write-off the trip. The more you spend on your business the less you will have to pay the government. Also, have an accountant help you put whatevers leftover in retirement accounts and such.
- Daro0
I only accept cash or paypal.
But if you wanna be serious, become an LLC and get an accountant, his/her services are also tax deductible.
- flashbender0
I would strong recommend using a tax professional. Mine costs $250 and I view it as money well spent since his advice and knowledge have more than paid for that fee with additional write-offs and peace of mind.
- couldn't agree more. My tax guy is awesome! I get money back every year.Point5
- seed0
I plan to write off clothes this time. You may need nicer clothes for client meetings that you wouldn't mormally buy.
- tkmeister0
i am debating if i should buy a 23" apple cinema display now so i can write off for 2007 tax or wait till macworld 2008 to see if there's gonna refresh ACD with new design and specs.
- OSFA0
pffft, why pay? ;)
- kerus0
take 1/3 of everything and put it into a separate high interest account like ING or Citibank and earn 5% interest on the money they will steal from you