self employed tax deductions?

oceanbeast wrote in post #11711934
well its definitely not a hobby i am lead photographer (not that that means anything really) at a photo studio, i am certainly not a business by any means but self employment is different than being a business.

Are you making retail sales but not collecting sales taxes (if your state requires it)? "Self-employed lead photographer at a photo studio" doesn't seem to equal "certainly not a business" in my mind, unless you mean you're working as the lead contract photographer for a studio owned by someone else.

And I never meant to say that you shouldn't see a professional. I'm just wondering about your actual status. That professional may have to tell you that you own back taxes to the state.

i have and do pay taxes at my job, where i shoot. But i am also trying to do more jobs for my self independantly.

I am self employed, I did my own taxes with turbo tax, its easy.

I wrote off my New 7D, and my new 20-700mm f4, This got me $300 more then not writing it off. The 2 items cost me roughly $1800. My employment is in Contract labor, and Computers sales/service. I use the camera to take pictures of my items for sale. You will get nailed in self employment tax if you didn't pay in. They took over $1200 from me for self employment tax that I did not pay in. All my computer parts, and deductions were purchased in another state, so I didn't have to pay tax since I shop online. However, turbo tax asked me how much I spent on online, or phone sales out of state, and my state requires that I pay 5.5% on these items as use tax. And if you show you made no money, but was able to afford $10000 in equipment, they are probably going to audit you. So you better have your last 7 years worth of tax information handy. I wouldn't hire a professional, turbo tax makes it to easy these days. You can even use it free to see how much you owe/refund. You don't pay til you file if you use their online version. You can take all the deduction this year, or you can spread it over some years turbo tax will ask you what you want to do.

Just be ready for a Audit, if you feel legit, and you have your last 7 years of legit forms, go for it. If you feel sneaky, don't do it. If its legit your golden, if you are trying to pull some wool over their eyes, they will get you, and the fines and penalties will be shocking. Oh, and possibly the jail time. The IRS don't like to be fooled with.

i honestly dont feel like im being sneaky, its really startup costs i just havent got up to speed with marketing/bookings yet. alot of it was purchased on credit i am still paying and will be paying for a while on it.

Well since its on credit that makes it even more difficult. You can probably only claim what you paid on the credit that year.

Good luck to you, I hope you get it all figured out. Sounds a bit difficult.

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