I now have quick books online edition to keep track of my exspenses and profitts. I know that I only have to claim what a resturant pays me over $600.00. My ? is , should I still be entering it into QB? Or should I leave no "paper trail" until I have reached 600 with that individual client.

Thanks guys hope that was clear enough

If you get more than $600 the restaurant is required to ask for your soc. sec number and file a form 1099 with the government, so there is a paper trail already. So if you do not claim that income you could be caught.

Now tips are different, there is no paper trail on tips.

Peter

This is an excellent topic. though I've been doing this for a long time, this is the first year I've had to worry about the tax thing. Now I planned ahead and saved everything, expense wise, that I could think of.

Does anyone have a good source for tax planning advice, or just advice in general that you'd like to share?

Thanks.

Whether you make enough to generate a 1099 from the source makes no difference. It is all taxable income. If you are asking questions about "leaving a paper trail" you are, in effect, asking how to cheat on taxes. Perhaps I misunderstand the point of the thread.

File your taxes, claim your legitimate deductions and credits and sleep well at night.

There are many deductions that I'm sure get overlooked. What deductions can you think of that someone may overlook.

I've know of many and I've been told of a few.

I advertise using a website that I built myself.
-Domain Name
-Hosting Services
-Internet Service Provider (Cox Cable)
I use a cell phone to be contacted.
Supplies that I use for magic and advertising.
Advertise in my local community newsletter.
PC repairs to maintain my website.

Is all of this deductible? What else can be?

I am not looking to cheat, I am looking to do it the right way.

"Whether you make enough to generate a 1099 from the source makes no difference. It is all taxable income."

That right there anwsers my ?.

Things i write off

Magic supplies
Gas
Performance Clothing and tailoring
quickbooks program
Anything at all to do with the bussiness really

Right now I have one jig at a Chick-fil-A (fastfood restuerant).
At this moment I make $35 an hour, two hours a week. That is suppose to change soon, so I will be working more like 5 hours a week.
So my question is, what is the limit to what I can write off?
-Could I write off a car?
-Gas?
-How much magic stuff?
-Cellphone bill? (even if I use it mostly for personal use, but as a contact for my magic business)

Thanks,
Josh

This is not a question that should be asked here. Too many smart a$$es will give you wrong information. Ask a tax preparer, CPA, or even the IRS office where you live.

As for writing off the gas, I do know about that. Got expensive for me because I thought I could do it. If you get ready at home and then go to the gigs, it is considered COMMUTING and is not deductible. Clothes, if you wear street clothes they are NOT deductible. A clown costume is deductible because it is a special uniform.

See it easy to make a mistake and then the penalties range from 5% to 50% of the total tax for the year. (Not the amount they say you owe, but the TOTAL of what you said you owed plus what they have just added on.) 5% if it is just a mistake, however if you have a lot of mistakes then it can go as high as 50% because they will say that is prima facia evidence of attempting to defraud the IRS.

Please see someone who does taxes for a living. The IRS just LOVES it when we do our own taxes and screw up.

Peter

Thanks for the info.
Paddy!
I'll just talk to one of my parents friends who do this for a living.
Later,
Josh

I also have a cpa do mine. They know all the deductions that you are allowed. You'd be suprised as to what you can deduct. I have a room set up just for the biz, you can actually have a deduction to your mortage for this since you are using a portion of your home for a business.

I do independant contracting for IT work on the side and it's similar to what you face.

Here are my deductions evey year.

MILAGE <-- incorporates wear, gas, insurance on your automobile. This is the big one for me....

ISP
cell
equipment/tools (tricks/refills/videos..)
domain/hosting
phone partial (for faxing)
Any computer related materials (you can always find a way to just them to the home office)
work clothes (sometimes)
usually you can make partial deductions for a home office and car repairs...

I have a folder on my desk that collects reciepts for the year and then come 1/1/next year I go through and look at my yearly deductions

I'm thinking about incorporating. But it may not be worth it for $600 dollars... If you are getting $600 from many places and are making in the thousands of dollars you might want to look into it. You can give yourself a pension fund and/or 401k and all kinds of other benifits BEFORE taxes! The corporation will only be taxed on what it makes after expenses (including the expenses of employee benifits). Watch out though. Some states have minimum taxes for corps...

OK I'm not in the tax field... so take it for what it's worth. This is just what my CPA tells me. I'm in massachusetts.