Uhhh...that tax thing.

One of my old gym teachers called me up a few weeks ago and asked if i'd shoot the wrestling team at a harley dealership for a poster. I agreed and he offered $50.

Took the pics, dropped them off today. He then gave me a note to take to the athletic director. Aparently that morning the staff got yelled at for spending money and not doing it properly, so i was the first lucky guy to have to do everything by the book.

They had me type up an invoice so everything was nice and offical.

My question is...dont i have to write this off on my taxes now as "income"

???

I guess this is more of a tax question then a photography question but i figured you guys deal with this a heck of a lot more often then i do.

Timmy anything that is paid other than by cash, leaves a paper trail. My suggestiopn would be to start a spread sheet and each day you receive a check enter it. I generally put back about 30% for tax purposes.
If you just keep cashing checks and blowing the money, come the end of the year you may get surprise of a bunch of these little things called 1099's. Even if you don't get 1099ed, the people who pay you may come under an IRS audit. Now if your name is showing up, they just may have a little looksee to see if your claiming money made off photography.

Now if someone is paying you cash and there is no invoice or receipt showing they paid you, well I wouldn't want to advise you to break the law but, some unscrupulos people would not declare any of that cash income. Those crooks!!!!

When you receive income from your work, you will declare that income.

When you spend money on a new camera (that you use in your work), you may write off that expense. Normally, by the end of the year, you will have more income declared than expenses to write off.

---Bob Gross---

Bob is right. Your expenses should be more than your income if your paid infrequently. Also, assuming you are in the US, unless they pay you more than 600, it will not be reported to the IRS. That doesn't relief you of your responsiblity to report it though. Furthermore, if photography is a hobby and you spend more than you make, your not entitled to take a loss against your other income. See your tax professional for further advice. (Disclaimer) I'm not licensed to practice in your state (Disclaimer)
BLA BLA BLA (Disclaimer)

Well this is the first check i have recived. All other transactions were with cash.

I've already got a spreadsheet setup to track how much cash i've made directly from my camera (Up to $120 in the last month...woo hoo )

Someone had brought up writing off my camera but at the time that didnt feel right, without getting too political i think income tax is a crime (I guess that came out a little political). So now that i'm going to have to pay taxes on the things my tallent/camera brings me why not write it off.

My only question would be; isnt there an amount of income something has to bring before you can write it off as an expense?

(i'm starting to be thankful that my bosses do this work for me )

Ooofff

Thanks

timmyquest wrote:
Well this is the first check i have recived. All other transactions were with cash.

I've already got a spreadsheet setup to track how much cash i've made directly from my camera (Up to $120 in the last month...woo hoo )

Also keep track of your mileage to and from the photoshoot. Since you are not being paid mileage you can write off all those trips that you make to go to the photoshoots.

A friend of mine that teaches does that. Everytime he goes to leave to teach he writes down his start mileage and then when he gets back home he writes down the end mileage. Then at the end of the year he turns the spreadsheet over to the accountant and they write off all that mileage.

That's not what I said. Not at all.

---Bob Gross---

Sorry misread your post. But I am saying it. From my personal and professional experience, if you only generate occassional income in the amounts indicated from photography, your deductible expenses should your income. This assumes you keep up with them and take all the allowable deductions. As I stated in my post, this is assuming we are discussing US taxes. I'm not competent to discuss other countries taxes.

I don't know how it works down there, but up here it is illegal to charge pst or gst without being registered.

Vince

I would think that talking to a tax specialist in your area would be the smartest idea in your situation (early stages of a 'business'). Do you have a business license? If not, can you legally write off camera/mileage/misc expenses as business expenses? If you do, did you have it before or after you purchased your camera (can you write off expenses before you became a business as business expenses?)?

You just want to make sure that you aren't bending the law to your favor... otherwise you may be getting a visit from the IRS after they review your taxes...

The problem is that i have no desire to start a buisness.