We had a lot of activity in the MMD household last year: Selling stocks, earning dividends, and the biggest one – having blog income to report. I thought for sure I was going to have to finally pay to have someone else figure all this out for me and prepare my taxes.
But thanks to a lot of help from my friend Lance over at Money Life and More, I got it under control and made it through. At least I think I did … If I get a knock on the door from the IRS, then you can disregard this.
I will say that in terms of reporting my blog income I think what helped was keeping track of everything throughout the year. This includes every transaction of income, Paypal fees, commission, hosting fees, and even Internet service expenses.
Overall, because you don’t pay income taxes on this stuff throughout the year, it resulted in a big decrease in my usual tax refund. But when you put the loss in perspective with how much extra income the blog and financial investments yielded, that makes it all worth it.
Blog Updates:
I was really impressed with the warm attention and interest everyone expressed in my Niche Site project. Now I just hope that my site meets all those expectations. I will have a post about my site on Monday where I will reveal it and go through my plans for it.
(Hint: If you were savvy, then you’d know that I actually already revealed it in one of the posts this week).
Operation de-over-optimize is progressing along. I finished January last weekend, so now it is time to move on to December.
Interestingly as I go back through to my older posts, I’m noticing that some of the internal pages are at a PR4 which is higher than my root domain being at a PR3. I realize that all this means is that a significant amount of link juice is being passed on from other sites linking to that page directly. To capitalize on this, throughout my updates I’m going to make sure that I link back to my homepage from those high ranking internal pages.
If you’re looking to help out your own PR, you may want to look back at your own pages and see about doing the same. Having a nice toolbar like SEO Quake installed in my browser really helps this process out because I can then quickly see what each page is ranked at the moment I pull it up.
Other Bloggers Who Got Their Income Taxes Done:
In case you missed them, here are a few great stories you should check out this weekend:
- The Savvy Scott – The Operation That Went Wrong
- The Outlier Model – WHERE ARE ALL THE GIRLS IN THE GAME INDUSTRY?
- Eyes on the Dollar – Does Being Rude Get You Further in Life?
- Canadian Budget Binder – Income Tax Is Like A Four Letter Word
- The Frugal Path – Are Drug Companies Buying Your Doctor’s Opinion?
- Earn Verse – Today I Kissed My Spending Trigger Good-bye!
- Stumble Forward – Income Tax Return Scams – 5 Tips To Protect You When You File
Carnivals & Mentions:
My Money Design was featured on the following sites this week:
- Eyes on the Dollar 20/20 Roundup #26-Germs Go Away
- Mid February 2013 Favorite Blog Posts
- Friends of the Family: 401k Match Edition
- Vanessa’s Money – Lifestyle Carnival
- Savvy Scott does the Carnival of Financial Camaraderie
- The Money Mail – Fourteenth Edition – The Money Mail Carnival
- NZ Muse – Yakezie Carnival: Back on the bandwagon
Thanks to everyone for linking to my site and enjoying my posts. I really appreciate your support and hope you continue to visit!
Posts This Week:
1) Starting the Next of My Extra Income Ideas – Building a Niche Website
2) The Roth IRA Basics and What You Need to Know to Get Started Today!
3) Ten Ways Stock Investments Can Be Used With Your Credit Card Debt Reduction Strategies
Image courtesy of eCards
I’m so jealous you have your taxes done already! It’s a chore I DREAD so much each year. And I’m a freelancer so I have that extra work like you do. I do pay someone to do it though. There is just no way around it for me. Totally worth it since it takes so much work to prepare it in the first place. Have a great weekend!
I couldn’t imagine what that would be like if all my income was freelance and I had to turn in everything to justify it. You’re probably smart to just have someone else do them for you.
UGh I really need to do my taxes! I don’t know why I’m pushing it off since I will be getting money back.
Its good getting your money back and all but it is so tedious to prepare. Plus when you’ve got complicated stuff like gains, dividends, and freelance income, it just gets even more complicated.
I don’t do my own taxes, so they are not done and it drives me crazy. Hopefully by early March. Thanks for the mention.
You’re probably smart to have them done professionally. I’m too stubborn to let anyone else do them for me.
Hey! Thanks for the mention! Glad you got your taxes done. I need to do that too especially with all of the problems I’ve been having with my ID theft issues… ugh!
I’m sorry to hear about that Lance! I hope you can get those issues resolved soon. It really stinks when someone compromises your finances like that. Its unreal.
I should have my taxes done this weekend. I have technically had them done for a few days, but I like to check them over. I just have to hit the submit button on Turbo tax.
“Measure twice, cut once” is a good motto to have for more than just carpentry. Good luck getting those in Grayson.
I did my federal taxes a few weeks ago, but they got returned because my b-day doesn’t match with my SSN. So we’ve got to print and mail them.
I’ve haven’t done the state ones yet but I’m getting a much smaller return there because of the overhaul to homestead credit.
I can’t wait to see your niche site. Have a great weekend.
Thanks Justin. I hope not to disappoint!
Dang it, guess I’m not that savvy because I didn’t pick up on the name. Now I’ll have to go back and read. We haven’t done our taxes yet but I presume we better get our arse in gear and get it done. Have a great weekend mate.
You’re the first person to take me up on this Easter Egg hunt. I hope you find it!
Yeah, I am totally balking at the taxes. March 1st will be my date. Thanks for the reminders here!
Good luck with them. Maybe its the cold this winter, but I think the general consensus is “ehh” when it comes to doing your taxes this year.
Good for you, you’ve done the taxes already. Haven’t finished mine yet.
Thanks Sarah.
Greg got our taxes done on Friday and it’s such a relief. We are getting back more than I thought and it’s going into our vacation fund!
Hope you have a great week!
Ahh, a vacation. That will be money well spent! I hope you guys find some place fun to go and enjoy!
I applaud you for getting your taxes done so quickly. I admit I always wait until near the deadline. It is so hard to be motivated when it comes to taxes. 🙁
Thanks Pam, and welcome to the site. I’ll take it that the hesitation is because you OWE money? I’d wait until the last minute too if I knew I wasn’t getting anything back.
Ahhh…I’m so jealous all you guys have finished your income taxes. I’ve only barely started on mine! One thing that I’m not worried about though is having to pay a balance, because I set the money aside every time I got a payment or check from a freelancing client.
Also, for this year I might start sending in quarterly payments so I can cover any additional balance without owing a penalty. If your income keeps going up this year from the niche/blog stuff, you might have to do the same! 🙂 That will mean we’re are becoming more successful though — which is a good thing IMO.
Ha – that is the price you pay for success! In one way or another you still have to pay your taxes. If things continue to pick up, I may have to take your advice. Thanks Carrie.