Freelance Taxes
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- univers0
One Book: Adrian Shaughnessy's, How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul. Though doesnt have much detail, really gets you thinking about many of the professional aspects of the Design industry. Easy and great read.
- sintaxera0
I've got a fulltime 9-5 gig, but have also been working freelance on the side. Am I still able to write-off my rent/mortgage, etc. same as if I were freelancing full-time?
- depends on how much you made freelancing. There are break points.. obviously it looks bad if you are writing off the same amount or more than you grossed.flashbender
- same amount or more than you grossed freelancing.flashbender
- yeah, you have to show some profit on freelance. if it goes negative with all the write off, that's a red flag.tkmeister
- AndyRoss0
I bought a bunch of client Christmas gifts today.
I immediately wrote those off.
- TResudek0
Get a good accountant and save every receipt that you think could possibly be a write off. Then, at the end of the year, give your accountant a shit load of receipts and hope for the best. :)
- 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.
- seed0
I plan to write off clothes this time. You may need nicer clothes for client meetings that you wouldn't mormally buy.
- 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.
- visualplane_0
I wear clothes at client meetings. Can I write off clothes? =P
- 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.
- 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
- 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
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?
- jpea0
Also, but a house. That'll save you untold millions with write-off's.
- visualplane_0
Here's a quick question. If you rent office space, can also still deduct half your rent if you use some of the apt as an office space (even if the home setup is taking up less that half the space)?
- you can write your rent off too? I didn't know that? Nice!!!cosmo
- Yeah, if you freelance from home.visualplane_
- fuck yeah I do.cosmo
- writing off half your rent is a bit risky, a smaller percentage will raise fewer flagsacescence
- I'm waiting for my accountant to get back to me.visualplane_
- 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
- 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.
- seed0
Look at your states site. Maybe search 'state name LLC'. The cost can vary greatly. I think it is like $125 in MO and $500 in Illinois for instance. I'm getting more in to custom e-commerce so I am thinking about it mostly for the liability protection.
- madirish0
as a side note cosmo, i have read a lot of your posts and i think a really smart thing for you to do would be to read some books on basic incorporation and tax structure, both federal and state. not being a dick here at all, but many of these questions you are asking are *basic* business establishment principals. : )
- Yeah I really need to read up on this. I am no business person, but I need to save my ass from the IRA. Full time freelance is new to me. :)cosmo
- ...freelance is new to me. :)cosmo
- LOL
i think you mean IRS....
get a book... quick. ;)madirish - hahahahaahahh IRA! Man I need to stop typing fast and read,cosmo
- visualplane_0
Actually we plan on starting a LLC, and I'm letting my partner handle that part as he's coming from the business side of things.