This year I paid around $300 to have my income taxes prepared professionally.
Usually I pay around $20 to file them online all by myself.
Do you think I’m going to regret paying an extra $280 more? Maybe … if I was penny wise but pound foolish.
If you’re a blogger who earns an income, a freelancer, or make any kind of money on the side, then you should listen up and think about if you’re really qualified to handle your own side business taxes.
As it turns out – that could be an assumption that costs you thousands down the road.
Handling My Own Blog Side Business Taxes:
I’ll be honest – I’ve never really felt too good about preparing my own “business income” taxes.
The personal / individual taxes don’t really bother me. Those have been mostly pretty straightforward (even though short-term/long-term capital gains from stocks can start to get messy).
If you make any significant amount of money on the side, then technically you’re running a “business”.
And in 2013, business was booming! This was the year that I really started to treat my blogging hobby more like a money making business, and the results really showed! By the end of year I had over $10,000 in profits.
I am well aware that there will always be things that pop up and could hinder my business, but my tax situation will never be one of them because of the commitment that I have made to having the done right.
How Do You Know You’re Doing Everything You Can?
Let’s assume a 25% tax bracket. That means I would owe the IRS around $2,500 in unpaid taxes.
Is that really what I owe? Am I really doing everything I should be to keep my earnings?
To be honest – I don’t know!
I know that expenses help decrease my taxable balance. I know that opening a SEP IRA account helps too. But what else is there?
Despite the sticker shock of working with a professional accountant, I decided that the possible benefits of using a tax professional out-weighed the expense. I had put this off long enough.
No more reading advice from blogs and websites online and then trying to piece it together myself. I wanted to work with someone who actually knows what they’re doing.
So do you want to know what you get for your money?
Advice on Expenses:
As a small business owner (even if you only made $100 in income), one of the first things you have to realize are that side business taxes can be offset by the expenses involved to keep your business running.
In other words, from a tax perspective:
-> the more money it costs to operate your business,
->the less profits you make
-> and the less taxes you’ll have to pay (since you only pay taxes on profits, not revenue)
Now obviously the IRS is not going to let you deduct everything under the sun as a write-off to your business. But as a blogger did you know that you could deduct:
- Your domain and hosting fees?
- Virtual assistant or freelancing fees?
- Expenses (like Paypal fees) or commissions paid to those who helped bring in revenue?
- A portion of your Internet provider costs?
- Travel that was for business?
- A portion of your new computer, cell phone bill, or home office if you use it for your business?
- Lots of others
Unsure about any of these? Again – you should be! Claim too many of them and the IRS will be out to audit you.
This is where a tax professional who is working on your refund can help ease your mind. They’ve probably done this a thousand times and can help you decide which things should make the list and which ones shouldn’t.
Let’s say they were able to find $200 extra in expenses that you hadn’t thought of. That will save your side income business around $50 in taxes.
Contributing to a SEP IRA:
This was my MAIN reason for working with a tax professional this year. Like I wrote about in this post here, I had discovered the tax loop hole of a SEP IRA and wanted to take full advantage of it to really offset my taxable income as well as stash away even MORE money for retirement.
Fortunately my accountant knew all about this and was easily able to help me crunch how much I’d be able to put aside. Together we determined that I was able to save approximately $2,100 in a SEP IRA for 2013. If I hadn’t done anything and simply paid the taxes on that $2,100, I would have ended up paying almost $525 more in taxes than I had too.
Federal Withholding Penalty:
Another big land-mine he helped me to avoid: Adjustments to my Federal withholding!
It’s awesome that I made so much extra money, but unfortunately that was pretty close to getting dinged with a penalty for not having enough paid into the IRS for the year.
In case you didn’t know, if you pay too little into the IRS throughout the year for income you earned, you can get hit with a penalty. That’s the IRS’s way of making sure that they get access to your money right away!
The IRS has a calculator for estimating federal withholding in case you want to check it out for yourself. Based on what we came up with, my work income plus free-lance income indicated that we would either need to 1) increase my Federal withholding on our paychecks or 2) making periodic payments to the IRS directly.
Either way I’m going to do something so that I can side-step having to pay unnecessary penalty fees all because I’m making a side income.
Advice for Life:
This is probably the greatest aspect of all. Ever since I started blogging and really digging deep into personal finance, I have learned a TON about taxes and how they work. In some instances I’ve even proven how picking the path with your taxes could result in losing over a million dollars over your lifetime. So taxes are nothing to be taken lightly!
But now that I have working relationship with a tax professional I’ve got someone to turn to when I want to know the real deal. Again, no more trying to interpret blog articles and think I’ve got the right answer. If there’s ever anything I want to know specifically about my side business taxes I’ll know right who to ask.
Readers – How many of you have turned to a pro to help you with your blog or side business taxes? What benefits or value do you feel they bring you?
Related Posts:
1) Niche Website Update 15 – A Slow Start for NS4 and $935 in Passive Income!
2) How I Work With a Social Media Virtual Assistant to Promote My Money Websites
3) Getting Serious About Building Up My Multiple Streams of Income in 2014
Images courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Mr Ikonz @ Project Ikonz says
I swear by using an accountant every year! If you needed a tooth pulled out, would you pay $20 and do it yourself or pay $300 to get a professional to do it??
I find that using an accountant, I tend to maximise my deductions and limit the amount of tax that I need to pay each year, simply because he knows all of the deductions that I can possibly claim. Simply put, he’s an expert and I pay to access his expertise to save me paying more in tax.
MMD says
I tend to look at them in the same way now as well. As I get older I’m learning that sometimes paying for a true professional is worth every cent.
Mr Ikonz @ Project Ikonz says
Would you go to see the cheapest brain surgeon in town, or the best? 🙂
Using an accountant to do your taxes is just like partnering up with any other experienced/qualified professional in life.
John @ Frugal Rules says
This is our third year paying someone to do our taxes. I always enjoyed doing them, I know I’m sick ;), but once our business took off it just became too much for me. There just became too many moving parts and taking too much time on my end that it became well worth it to pay someone to do it. I love that we can go to them with questions throughout the year and we get an educated response as opposed to me guessing my way through some things.
MMD says
I agree. The challenge can be fun. But at some point it just gets too complicated and is probably best left to someone who actually knows what they are doing.
Mr Ikonz @ Project Ikonz says
The older you get and the bigger your net worth becomes, generally your finances start getting harder. By then you’re dealing with different tax structures, different ways that assets are owned (e.g. joint with a partner) and eventually the time and effort is outweighing the savings…
Holly@ClubThrifty says
I would never do my own taxes but I trust my husband to do them 100%. He is up-to-date and knowledgeable and spends a ton of time reading and making sure that everything is correct. Our taxes are complicated and it would cost a fortune to pay someone to do them!
MMD says
Good job Greg for holding down the fort!
Grayson @ Debt Roundup says
I have done my taxes every year. I have owned a business for many years. I understand the deductions part and how much I owe. You will see some businesses make their big purchases right at the end of the year. This pulls down their profits, so the pay less in taxes.
Next year I might go with an accountant. I have a lot going on and I just made some big stock moves.
MMD says
Stocks were the other half of the battle that made me lean towards going with a pro. I’ve got dividends, capital gains, long term / short term gains … it’s all just starting to become too much.
Pauline says
Just in expenses you may forget about, it is worth the fee to hire out. I file in 4 countries so the pain is even bigger, different deadlines, different systems… it is a small fee for the peace of mind.
MMD says
Oh man, 4 countries??? That’s tough! And I thought doing Federal and State was bad enough.
Tonya@Budget and the Beach says
Damn I feel like I’m paying my accountant too much. Mine is $500! I wouldn’t even dare do my own self-employment taxes. The prep work alone getting everything organized is enough hell! 🙂
MMD says
You’re probably paying more because of location (California vs Michigan).
Brian @ Luke1428 says
I believe the pros are definitely worth the expense, especially for business taxes with complex issues. Good thing for me if I ever begin to make significant money on my blog, I’m married to a CPA. Think she’ll work for free? 🙂
MMD says
I’m sure you’ll end up paying for it in one form or another! 🙂
Kim says
I’ve had an accountant of most of my professional career, but I’ve also run a business with employees, all kinds of income and expenses, and things I just don’t understand, like which equipment purchases get extra credit from the ADA, etc. This year is especially complicated with the sale of my practice and buying a commercial property, plus having online income. I’m always scared of an audit, so it’s nice to have piece of mind that someone can go to bat for your if it comes to that. I’ll pay more than $300, but it’s well worth it. Maybe when my life is more simple, it won’t be necessary.
MMD says
If I was in your situation, I would definitely have an accountant! That’s way too many moving parts to keep track of. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the implications of claiming the sale of your practice.
Ryan @ Impersonal Finance says
I totally agree. I prepare the taxes currently for my family, but our situation is relatively simple. It’s destined to become more complex in the next year or two, so I’m going to start getting them professionally done. I’m comfortable doing them because of the simplicity, but anything more required than what I do now would likely be too much for me to risk/handle.
MMD says
By all means – if your situation is simple then you should handle your taxes economically. When they start to get to be too much to bear, then it’s time to go pro!
Alexa says
I feel pretty comfortable doing my own taxes. I’ve had three people so far ask me to do their taxes for them this year. It was pretty simple stuff though just W-2’s. I worked for an accountant who did tons of income taxes and can call him and get free advice if I have any questions. As my income grows though I can see the need for having a professional do the work for me.
Daisy says
I have always done my own taxes, but I think this year is going to be the last year. It’s so complicated once you start incorporating side income that you made online and different forms of side income, expenses, etc.
I don’t want to short change myself or do anything wrong, so next year I’m thinking of hiring somebody to do it for me.
Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life says
I’m so glad my father is a tax attorney. I just hand all my receipts over at the end of the year.
EL @ Moneywatch101 says
I do my taxes on my own, because it is pretty simple as of right now. But as soon as it begins to get complicated I will use a professional because it will save time and my sanity.