Question on taxes with rover.com side hustle

[Anniemaygo]

Hi All,
I posted this on the entrepreneur board, was hoping for a couple more answers as to the cost/benefit.

I am looking for some tax advice regarding side hustle. 

About 4 months ago, I created an account on Rover.com for dog boarding in my house.  I am not doing much, but this is one option for income after FIRE, so I wanted to try it and build a little clientele and positive reviews.

This year, I expect to earn about $1000.  I have not requested any payouts yet so cash I have earned is just sitting in the account and I can request payment via check or PayPal. 
So far, I have not incurred any expenses.  I do offer dog transportation and track my mileage.  The dogs have the run of my house and when I am out they stay in a spare room with a baby gate. 

Currently making about $250k a year in my day job, mortgage paid off, do my own taxes with turbo tax.  Would it be worth the money to set this up as a business and have someone do my taxes with deductions for use of my house / car / etc for the business?  I know nothing about this and appreciate any resources you can suggest.

Thanks!

[bacchi]

It's already a business. You're now self employed and will receive a 1099 next year. You should think about a SEP (do you have a 401k/403b/etc. plan at work?) or solo 401k.

Yes, you should deduct the car usage. Deducting the house expense is trickier; it used to be a mess but I think the IRS made it simpler. In any case, don't bother hiring someone to handle this. It's easily doable with a standard tax program.

[APBioSpartan]

I'm interested to see how the taxes will work too... My wife and I just started Rover this year and are making about $700+/month.  Guess we will see in a few months :P

[Bimmy]

Agree with bacchi - it's already a business. I think you may have grounds for calling that bedroom a home office. That is a great write off. The mileage is another great write off.

I think a turbo tax type program will be able to walk you through most of these write offs. (I'm self employed and do our taxes by myself with turbo tax)

[Anniemaygo]

It's already a business. You're now self employed and will receive a 1099 next year. You should think about a SEP (do you have a 401k/403b/etc. plan at work?) or solo 401k.

Thanks everyone!

Yes, max out my 401k at work, HSA and Backdoor Roth every year.
My son (17) is doing a lot of the dog care but Rover is set up in my name initially.  I am not sure if I can have the checks made out to him and the 1099 in his name

[startingsmall]

I have a side hustle that brings in $10-20k/yr and I still do all of my taxes using TurboTax. I don't take any crazy deductions because I don't feel that any are ethically justified in my case (my home office doubles as a guest room, I don't do any travel related to my side hustle, etc), so that may make my situation different, but I feel like TurboTax is just fine.

Last year was the first year that I ended up owing on my taxes. Instead of doing quarterly payments, I just had my withholding from my 'day job' increased so that I should come out even (or close enough to it) this year. It wasn't too complicated.

[Rocketman]

To deduct a room for home office that area MUST be exclusively used for business - no personal use.
Keep track of miles and any direct expenses I.e. Dog food. ( you will need to prorate the food between your pets (personal) and rover pets (business) - any rational method will work.

Good luck