Author Topic: New to Small Business Taxes  (Read 1771 times)

Ox05

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    • Stock Music Musician
New to Small Business Taxes
« on: February 17, 2016, 05:51:37 PM »
Howdy fellow mustachians!

Over the past year I've started up a side hustle producing and licensing music, and have (thankfully) made enough money that I need to report it to Uncle Sam. I have a decent idea of what I can claim as an expense/start up cost, but I'm unclear as how to report it.

So my question is this:

Do I need to itemize my expenses like this - "on 2/24/15 Attended music industry event" or are small business owners able to lump all the expenses together (perhaps by category?) as long as they have the documentation at home to back it up?

Thanks so much!

jwright

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Re: New to Small Business Taxes
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2016, 08:32:56 AM »
Assuming you are a sole proprietor or single member LLC, you will file the Form Schedule C with your 1040.  If you look this up, you'll see that their are line items for each expense category (advertising, supplies, travel, wages).  You put the year's total on each line.  You don't include the backup documents or substantiation with the return.  You keep that information for your records in case there is a notice or audit in which the onus will be on you to support the deduction. 

Be advised that you have to capitalize startup and organizational costs that are incurred before you start the business, then you can elect to expense up to $5,000 of those costs.  Also, you have to report all income, not just when there's "enough" - what does that mean?

skc

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Re: New to Small Business Taxes
« Reply #2 on: May 23, 2016, 10:55:23 AM »
Ox05- I would highly recommend contacting a tax professional as based on your income level - you may need to look at appropriate entity type s Corp c Corp etc. As jwright suggested all expenses should be rightly coded to the correct account/ most appropriate on your tax returns.


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skc

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Re: New to Small Business Taxes
« Reply #3 on: May 23, 2016, 10:56:11 AM »
I also run a tax practice and if you are still looking for one, I can provide my contact info.


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Ox05

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Re: New to Small Business Taxes
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2016, 02:49:39 PM »
Thanks for the advice. I've got a pretty simple business, so I was able to figure it out this year, but who knows what the future holds!