Things Freelancers Can Do to Make Filing Taxes Easier

Tax Applicability

Many freelancers are taken by surprise when tax season arrives every year. Freelancers, especially those who are new to freelance writing, may feel uneasy about this time of the year. Or, they might feel great because they’re organized and have everything under control.

Tax Planning For Freelancers These are three free tax tips that will help you prepare for Uncle Sam if the former is true. These tips can be used year after year to avoid that uneasy feeling in your stomach when tax season arrives.

Freelance writers: 3 Things You can Do Now to Make Filing Your Taxes Easier

I. List ALL your expenses: Freelance writing seems like a simple business with few expenses. This is one of the reasons freelance writing is so popular. These small expenses can add up. Since 1993, I have owned a freelance business. Here are some of the obvious and less obvious expenses.

Hosting fees

Domain name registration fees;

Web design fees

Supplies for offices

Internet fax service;

Mobile phone

Digital camera (to capture photos for my blogs);

Software to create ebook covers. I write and sell my own ebooks.

PayPal fees

Bank fees

Etc.

These can add up, as you can see.

Recognizing Freelance Businesses Expenses TipMentally walk through some of your freelance writing days.

Do you go to networking events at your Chamber of Commerce? FedEx can pick up packages from your home; do e-faxes work if you have a paperless workplace; or do you use an online service such as Carbonite to backup your files at night; ?

This mental walkthrough will help you to remember expenses that are easy to forget, such as your monthly efax bill, your annual backup data storage fee, and your weekly mileage to networking meetings. ).

II. Income: It is easier to remember income than expenses. As a freelancer writer, there may be a few jobs you have done that clients didn’t need to send a 1099.

You don’t have to report income just because they didn’t send you a 1099. You can prevent this by creating a tracking system or using accounting software such as QuickBooks to make it impossible to forget.