TIS THE MF SZN… for Taxes :(.

Yah yah, it sucks, but we all gotta do our taxes & I am here to *hopefully* make it a little easier for all my fellow content creators out there.

There are only two times of year I wish I worked in an office- during the holidays when they have fun parties & give out bonuses (that always just sounds so fun) & during tax szn when they basically handle it all for you.

If you’re self employed, you feel my pain, doing your own damn taxes & keeping track of everything is a real FEAT. Especially if you’re like me & SUCK at numbers. Math was just never my strong suit & I really only used my Texas Instrument’s calculator (did I just majorly date myself?!) to write notes to my friends about the cute boy in class.

BUT GOOD THING MY DAD WAS SUPER INTO NUMBERS, cause he had me balancing a checkbook at 7 & doing taxes by 11. Feels kinda depressing saying that out loud, but hey- he wanted me to be prepared & man was I prepared. 

I am not saying I am a tax expert by ANY means, my first tip is to hire a professional, but after 10+ years of doing self employed tax stuff, I’ve got the whole routine down pretty good & just wanted to share with you guys a few of my TAX SZN TIPS.

my top 5 most important content creator tax tips (& all those who are self-employed!)

1. Leave it to the pros:

You just gotta hire someone at the end of the year to get it all together. I am good at taxes, but not THAT GOOD. When it comes to your taxes, you really don’t want to miss anything important. SO- you keep your stuff organized all year long & then at the end you hand it off to the pros & let them make sense of it all. Sure it’ll cost you for their time, but it’s worth it. TRUST.

When looking for an accountant to handle your taxes, try to find someone who is well versed in freelance work/independant contractor kinda stuff. Ask around, if you have any blogger friends on solo-preneurs, they could have a good referral for ya.

I have a blogger friend of mine whose accountant works primarily with professional dancers (not ballerina’s… if you know what I mean) & honestly- makes sense. You want an accountant who is familiar with self-employed work in the digital age.

2. Stay organized:

I remember once doing taxes with a friend & she showed up to H&R block with grocery bags full of RECEIPTS. My palms started sweating & it took everything in my power not to start alphabetically organizing her receipts. That is not my vibe, I keep my shit organized all year long so that when tax season hits, I am not sweating it too much.

I create a spreadsheet in Google Sheets (or excel) at the start of each year & I have tabs at the bottom for expenses, travel, payments received, & employee pay. In each tab you just do the date, who you paid it to (i.e. amazon), what was it for (i.e. DIY supplies), how it was paid (i.e. Amazon credit card).

Every time I spend money on something for work, travel, or get a paycheck- I immediately record it in my spreadsheet. If I am on a trip, I save the receipts & record as soon as I am home. Come tax time, I download it & just shoot it off to my tax guy EASY PEASY.

Also, at the end of the year you will start to get 1099’s rolling in & these will need to be sent to your accountant as well. I have the app on my phone Genius Scan which I use to scan them in & send straight to my accountant.

3. Have a business bank account:

Hopefully you already have this in motion, but if not, go sign up for a business banking account ASAP. Not only is this just a good business practice, but it’s especially great for taxes. Especially if being SUPER organized is not your strong suit. A lot of people just charge everything to their business account & then reconcile all their expenses at the end of the year. It’s just smart to have all the money going in and out of your business in one account so that you always have a reference point!

4. Know your write-offs: 

The whole reason you keep track of all of the money you spend for your business is because it is a TAX DEDUCTION, one of the very few saving graces when it comes to taxes. SO- if you make $80,000 in a year & had $20,000 worth of expenses- you pay taxes on $60,000 instead of $80,000. Basic math, pretty simple, yea?

FOR THE MOST PART, ya- it’s pretty simple. Business lunches, gas to a meeting in LA, marketing costs, etc… those are all tax deductions. Where it gets tricky in this world of influencing/blogging is what’s NOT a deduction. There is a fine line & different tax guys will all tell you different things, but here are a few that aren’t always the best idea to try and deduct:

+ clothes: if you are a fashion blogger, you may think buying clothes is a part of your job thus you will write it off. NOT THE CASE. MY accountant highly recommends against writing off clothes unless you are in a profession like nursing & you have to buy scrubs.

+ home office: not only does “home office” kind of draw attention your way from the IRS, but if they do come after you & ask for proof, thing get a little sticky. A previous accountant told me one of his clients wanted to write off his home office so they did & the IRS asked for proof. He sent them a photo of his little home office & the IRS noticed a closet, they noticed hangers and coats in the closet. That was all it took for them to give him a hard pass. Just because he was storing winter coats in the spare closet. Every accountant I have had says no to writing off my home offices since they are also typically my closet. Better safe than sorry!

+ botox/hair/nails/personal trainer/misc beauty services: pretty much anything vanity related is not a good idea to try to write off even if your face/nails/body is your money maker. It’s just not gonna fly with the good old IRS. Sorry, trust me, I’d love to write off my botox!!!

5. Estimated Taxes:

This isn’t really a tip, but more of a warning. If you make more than $1000 a year, be prepared to pay estimated taxes. Since bloggers don’t have taxes deducted from their paychecks, the IRS makes you pay as you go instead. The IRS will use your previous years taxes to estimate what your taxes will be the following, divide it by four, & make you pay up 4x a year.

Your tax guy should prepare those vouchers for you, but it’s up to you to make your payments & if you miss them, you will be penalized. Also, if your taxes are more than what was estimated, you will obviously have to pay the difference.

It kinda sucks, but if you think about it, it’s better than having a whopping tax bill at the end of the year.

ALRIGHT- that’s all she wrote. Am I missing anything? Any tips you’ve got to share? Comment below!

x, E

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