If you own a craft business, taxes are unfortunately a big part of owning a business. There are however some basic guidelines you can follow when figuring out how much you should be paying.
First, I am not an accountant but I do however own two business and pay my taxes accordingly. Second, this is assuming you are living and working in the United States.
If you do not have an accountant I would highly recommend getting yourself a good one. An accountant will not only be able to save you a lot of money in the long but they will make sure you are paying the right amount of taxes so you do not get into trouble.
Okay, lets get into some general guidelines you should follow.
1. Expect to pay at least 25% of your income in taxes. When you are self employed you have to not only pay the regular taxes like everyone else but you have to pay the employers side of the social security tax.
2. You have to send in quarterly taxes if you are self employed. If you neglect to send in quarterlies then you will get fined. Also if 90% of your taxes are not payed by the end of the year you get penalized.
3. Claim all of your income. Don't think you can get away with only claiming some of your income and keeping the rest a secret. It won't work and if you get caught they get to decide just how much you did not claim. Now it is a pretty good bet they will come up with a higher figure then what you actually did not claim and you will have to pay them on their figure not yours.
Also if you do not pay taxes on all of your income you could end up losing everything you have and have worked so hard to get.
4. Now for the good stuff. Because you are self employed you get to write off business expenses.
Keep receipts for everything.
You need to talk to your accountant on what you can specifically write off for your business but some generals are your supplies to make your crafts, any expenses you incur listing your crafts online or registration fees for craft shows.
Your gas or millage you use on your car anytime you use your car for business. That includes going to the craft store to get supplies or a trip to the post office to mail your product to your customer.
If your store is online you can write off your Internet bill each month.
If you spend money on learning how to market your craft business or on marketing your craft business that is a right off as well.
Make sure you keep your receipts in a safe place and keep them for 8 years minimum. This is your proof if for some reason you ever get audited. This can be hard at first but you have to get in the habit of putting your receipts in the same spot every time you get one. What works really good for this is those 11x14 coupon envelope things that have the different slots in them with the little labels you can make. This works really well to keep all of your receipts organized and makes life a lot easier come tax time.
When you own a craft business taxes are not only an important part of your business but they are a mandatory part.
Source : ezinearticles.com
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar