Tax Hints for Web Marketers
That's the reason you have to consider all of the accessible information. If you mistakenly overlook something, the consequences can be unpleasant, to say the least. If you want to maximize your ROI, so to speak, then you need to find out what kind of choices you have. The bottom line is you need to know the following about this topic so you can make an educated decision.
The misconception that Web Marketing is a tax free industry is just about the worst and most dangerous myth in the market. Folks get into IM believing that because they are earning money online and being paid through, mostly, PayPal--they do not have to pay taxes on that money. It is false! Most importantly, failure to pay taxes on this income could possibly land you in a lot of trouble. Don't panic, however: it's not difficult to do taxes when you are an online marketer. Below are great tips to aid you.
1. Set up a visit with the local Small Business Association. Each community has a Small Business Association (typically working through a community college) that employs professionals on both starting your business and making sure that all of the details (like taxes) are taken care of. What's especially nice is that this powerful resource is just about always without charge.
2. Keep track of everything. Let me repeat that because it is important: keep an eye on each detail. You can do this simply enough using Excel. You only need one spreadsheet that will monitor all of the money you make (down to the penny) and another that will keep track of all of the money you expend (once again, down to the penny). Be sure to keep receipts and invoices for all of the money you fork out.
3. If you could afford it, retain the services of an accountant. This would prevent you from having to worry about the numbers and the taxes for your online business. You tell them how much money you've earned, show them how much you've spent (you'll need proof of these things) and they take care of the rest, particularly at tax time.
4. Put money towards the taxes you could possibly owe at the end of the year. A good rule of thumb is to pay 30% of each sale. This can be done quarterly through Estimated Tax Payments with the IRS or you could even do this every month. The IRS is right now set up well enough that they can get estimated tax payments from you any time you feel like making them. This is going to save you from paying out a genuinely distressing amount of money all at once which, if you haven't been saving up for it, can be incredibly stressful. Better yet: if you have overpaid in your estimated tax payments, you'll get a refund -- just like you would if you were working for a business! Make sure to speak with a person at the IRS to get this set up correctly.
5. Be familiar with all your allowed tax deductions. If you'd like to operate your own business at home, a lot of things such as the payments you make for your utilities become tax deductible just like the money you are going to invest in supplies or business equipment. An accountant or an IRS rep should be able to help you know what all you can deduct come tax time.
Becoming intimidated by the tax process when you're a web marketer is quite common. The good thing is that there are a lot of resources to help you make sure you keep to the law and keep a healthy share of the profit you make!
Additional Links:
Web Marketing Tax Tips and Tricks
Online Marketing Tax Guidelines
Internet Marketing Tax Tips and Tricks