How to handle commercial videography taxes?

[Mark Williams]

I think with a simple business model doing you own taxes is possible. With employees or contract labor its time for a professional tax man.

 

[Finn Yarbrough]

Well, you guys have been doing what you're doing, and that's fine.

But I would suggest to the OP and anyone starting a business to look at all the options and seek advice as to the best way to proceed. It's not just saving money in taxes which is the advantage of keeping your business and personal finances separate. There are many other considerations, too, and that's even for people who work only for themselves and don't have any other employees.

The voice of reason. Even though I do it myself, you're right, David, we can't really "advise" others to follow our example. In fact, it may be illegal for us to give that advice! So I will leave it at that.

 

[gkantziper]

Get an accountant if you are going to "run a business", but if you aren't going to do this sort of thing but a few times a year learn how to take care of it yourself and save the money. I use an EA or enrolled agent instead of a CPA. If you read up on it you may find that an EA is better suited to deal with your whole "tax picture", personal and business.

 

[alaskacameradude]

Well, you guys have been doing what you're doing, and that's fine.

But I would suggest to the OP and anyone starting a business to look at all the options and seek advice as to the best way to proceed. It's not just saving money in taxes which is the advantage of keeping your business and personal finances separate. There are many other considerations, too, and that's even for people who work only for themselves and don't have any other employees.

Looking into different options is always a good thing, I'd certainly agree. All
of us have different markets and business situations (and the amount of money your
business generates makes a big difference as well). Also, having an LLC or other form
of business can offer some legal protections above and beyond a sole proprietorship.
But for a small business person who is not making a lot of money, it really is not that
hard. One way to learn a little about it without much risk, is to do what you normally do,
keep all your receipts, mileage log for your business vehicle and so on, and at the end of the year,
use the free online version of TurboTax or similar to do your taxes. Then turn your
'stuff' over to your accountant to do as usual. Compare the returns, look at each form and
what it is for. You can quickly assess the amount of time it would take you to do taxes,
the amount of money using an accountant would save you, vs the cost of paying them,
and you can directly compare the two returns and see the differences. Kind of like
'renting' a camera before you buy, you get to 'try out' doing your taxes to see if it is
worth it to you.