Serious business question for wedding photographers....

[italianfemmy]

This is a serious question. Please don't bash me for asking it.

Do ya'll get insurance and register yourself as a business from the beginning or did you do a certain number of weddings before you decided to make it legal? This question is ecspecially for those of you who obviously did not start out in a studio.

I can see being insured from the beginning but at what point do you decide to make yourself a legal business? To actually register your business name and start paying taxes and to pay for a business license.. etc.?

And for those of you who do pay taxes, do you pay taxes on every penny that is paid to you by the bride and groom or do you pay taxes on just your profit? I really don't know how the business end of this works. I have read some books but it seems so many people do things so much differently.

[Ronald S. Jr.]

I'm a risky fella. It'll bite me, I'm sure, but not yet. I've been doing weddings for a while now, and I've yet to insure my stuff or register my business.

Geez...just imagine if I had my stuff insured, how often I'd have to change my policy!!

[Kai]

I purchased my camera in late August of last year, started practicing, reading, learning and taking pictures for friends and family. As soon as other people started hearing about me - no advertising - I decided I needed to become legal if I was going to charge these people. Starting January 1 of this year I have been collecting sales tax and putting away 30% for taxes. I don't have insurance yet because, well I don't know why. I quess I don't know to much about it. I keep track of all receipts and keep the money seperate from our household account.
You need to check out the laws where you live. I know of some people who do photography as little as me, charges the same as I do and have never registered as a buisness. I choose to do everything the right way. Hope this helps.

[italianfemmy]

Well, thanks for your input. Part of me feels like it would be fine not to make everything legal until it becomes more of a career than a hobby. And, by that I don't mean what I want to do with wedding photography, I mean how much business I generate for myself. If I only get 2 or 3 weddings in a year... it's more of a hobby. If I get like 10-20-30 or even more.. to me... that's more of a "business." And more justifiable to run out and pay for all the licenses and what not.

I do think I want to be insured by the time I take my first paid wedding and I need to get insurance on my equipment anyway. It's starting to get up there in value and I have intentions of adding more things soon.

[sapearl]

For years when I first started out, I made so embarrasingly little that it was really pathetic. Just about everthing I made got plowed back into bodies, lenses, darkroom equipment and supplies. I felt there was nothing left to declare.

When I started advertising and spreading my name around, my accountant advised me to go "legit" and put everything on schedule C of my tax return. "You're out there, being very public about what you do, it's too risky to fly under the radar." He's a pretty conservative guy - takes care of much of the business paperwork. I also got a vendor's license with the state, and collect and send in the sales tax I collect from my customers.

I also have a separate insurance policy for my equipment.

[italianfemmy]

That's what I am thinking Stu.. once I start advertising and getting my name out there and what not. I feel I need to shoot a couple weddings first to make sure I can even do it justice before I make it legit anyway. I have a lot of faith in myself but I might not be cut out for it. I won't know until I try and try and try. All I know is I have spent a good while practicing everything I can. Next weekend, I am going to some churches and going to practice shooting indoors with and without flash. I am going to set up a practice everything to make sure I have at least some experience with every situation before I take on a wedding for pay since nobody will let me 2nd shoot.

I just don't want to invest in additional business expenses and have to pay out the rear for taxes until it is more like a business.

[picturecrazy]

I made sure I was registered and insured before I showed up for my first paying job. Been paying taxes from day 1. Liability is a concern. If for some reason you damage a venue, or a kid with a sue crazy mom trips over a light stand, you are gonna be in deep deep trouble without insurance. You have $15,000 for a little johnny's trip to the hospital because he scraped his elbow? I sure don't, but my insurance company does.

And most insurance companies just insure your gear for a general dollar amount, you don't have to itemize every single piece you got . Not insuring because you change your equipment so often is not an excuse. Seriously, you're playing with fire.

That and some venues won't even let you shoot there unless you are insured. I have a wedding later that won't let any vendor in unless they have a minimum of 1 million in liability coverage.

[italianfemmy]

I plan on being insured. I won't wait to get insured. I will be insured by my first paid gig. I just don't want to register as a legal business until it becomes more like a business.

[picturecrazy]

hmmm, I seemed to remember I had to bring my registration documents when I started my insurance policy. maybe the rules are different in other places. Same thing with my business bank account.

[cicopo]

The nice thing about going legit is that you can properly deduct your start up costs and expenses, meaning that in the first year or 2 you normally won't make any real taxable income, but do have the protection of being a properly registered business. You would be surprised how easily a competitor could turn you in if he felt undercut by your pricing.

[sapearl]

Now THAT'S one angle I never thought of - I supose there are folks out there nasty enough to do stuff like that.

Originally Posted by cicopo

......., but do have the protection of being a properly registered business. You would be surprised how easily a competitor could turn you in if he felt undercut by your pricing.

[Thomas Lunt]

I waited a very long time to go "Legit" But that is mainly because I always knew the customer. Now that I advertise and have "Real" customers I registered. Plus I moved to The Peoples Republic of NEW JERSEY! Men in tall boots will come in the middle of the night and take my first born if I don't pay taxes.

When I formed the business my Home owners insurance told me my stuff was no longer covered because it was now business property but it's better with business insurance. As Picturecrazy said, the liability insurance is really important.

[photographyzoo]

Now I know that I will probably get audited just for asking this but how can the government honestly track to see what weddings you have booked and at what price? Its not like the couple declairs that money! What if you had insurance, just incase you do get sued but at the end of the year only declair some gigs you did?

How would you ever get caught unless someone rats you out? Or the government reads these forum... and you tell them how may weddings you did and charged XXX amount.

If the business is your name, you can keep the same bank account, and people could just make the checks out to me personally. I am just now thinking of doing wedding photography but there is a lot of work to do before that. I am new to these forums and I'll probably get ripped for brining it up but it is a valid questions!

[lime]

My business partner and I had a legit sports photography business before doing weddings, so when we started doing weddings we got our tax ID and insurance for the wedding biz. We have a tax guy that does our filing.

[Nicole Faith]

I got my gear insured before I stepped out of the house with it. (about a week after it all came in the mail) There is no way I could risk not being insured from day one.

I looked into the legal/business side of things - because in some cases the equipment, milage and whatnot can be deductable - but unless I was making a certain amount, it wasn't an option. I need to give myself more time to learn so that I can charge a decent amount before I will register my business name.