Talking to an Accountant tomorrow, what should I ask?

Written by Chris on May 18, 2008 – 10:34 pm -

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

So, I know I have talked a bunch before about starting a business, different types of businesses to start, etc, but now it is time for me to actually do it. Tomorrow I will be going and sitting down with my parents Accountant and Financial Planner in search of some advice as to what to do relating to my web design business income and my ebay income - ie start a business to funnel it into or not.

However, I want to make sure that I am well prepared with a list of questions - so I am looking for more ideas as to what else to ask or look into. Here is what I am thinking so far:

1. What is the best type of entity to launch in order to run ventures under different names (doing business as [DBA] names) and funnel all profits and expenses into the parent company.
2. What kind of protection does a parent company offer when operating under a DBA? Does everything fall onto the parent company?
3. If operating with a DBA, does a new company (say a LLC) need to be launched in order for the parent company to have ownership of it or can multiple DBA’s be filled for the same parent company?
4. What can be written off as a business expenses and where should the line be drawn (as far as deciding what to submit and what not to)?
5. How should internet income be reported (individually from each company [like google, cashcrate, etc] or just as one lump sum)?
6. What is the best way to report blogging income which would break down into the following categories: advertising (google, private ad sales, paid reviews, etc), networks/affiliates, miscellaneous.
7. Can meals and other items be written of as a tax deductible/business expense if they are written about and reviewed? Such as restaurant reviews or camping equipment reviews?

That is about all I have for now, any one have other suggestions or questions they may like to try to get answered? I am already there, so I’d be happy to try and ask any question you may have! Leave a comment! My meeting is at 3 PM tomorrow.

Tags: accountant, blogging income, eBay, setting up a company, starting a business, tax deductions, taxes
Posted in Blogging, Entrepreneurship, Website Updates / News | 2 Comments »

Do You Report Your Blog Income? Question To My Readers

Written by Chris on April 24, 2008 – 1:00 pm -

Just a quick question that I wanted to ask my readers today - do you report your blog income? Basically, here is what got me thinking.

Yesterday, I got another check from CashCrate for participating in surveys and for referring new members. My pondering began because I thought about how when I signed up for the program, they asked for my Social Security Number for their records and their own reporting.

So, to any affiliate program users and money makers out there, I want to know if you report your blog income. I can understand if you are making more than a couple hundred dollars a month and how it may look a fishy if you do not have a business entity set up to report it as income to. But for the average blogger who may make say $30-$100 a month off of affiliate programs such as Commission Junction and CashCrate, do you report that income with your income tax?

I figured this would be a good time to pose the question since the deadline for taxes just passed…which was also my birthday!

Tags: affiliate programs, blog income, cash crate, CashCrate, make money online, paid surveys, taxes
Posted in Blogging, Rants / Random | 2 Comments »