taxes

Ask Me Anything: Taxes, WordPress Plugins, Article Lengths and More

Whalen asks, What’s the best tax resource you’ve seen for “Independent Contractors”? When I need tax information, I always start at the IRS’ website. More than once, I’ve seen other websites give out information that directly contradicts the IRS’ policies — and in the event of a problem, who do you think actually matters? The [...]

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Got a good excuse for not filing your taxes?

I know there are some creative writers around here and, while it’s short notice, this contest may be up someone’s alley. There’s only a few days left before your tax return needs to be in the IRS’ hands — but if you’ve got a great reason why your 1040 won’t be ready, Outright is offering [...]

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Straight From the CPA: Freelancers Need Credit Cards

I’ve recommended credit cards in the past as a simple way to manage freelancing expenses. I got the chance to interview the CPA who I send my taxes to, Travis Raml, for another article not too long ago and something he said stuck with me. Travis explained that you can actually minimize your taxes for [...]

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7 Things Every Freelance Writer Should Do Before The End of the Year

We’re getting pretty close to the end of the year, but there are still a few things that may make the difference in how your business does in 2010. Talk to your accountant. I handle most of the bookkeeping for my business myself, but I pay my CPA to handle my income tax return as [...]

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Free Tax Advice for Journalists

I know I’ve mentioned that CCH offers a free tax guide for journalists in the past. But as tax season closes in on us, I think it’s worth bringing up again. The booklet covers a wide variety of topics, including income from prizes, copyright, libel insurance and even advice for foreign correspondents living abroad. Furthermore, [...]

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SBA Pushes For Home Office Deduction Simplification

I am pretty fond of the home office tax deduction: because I work from home, I get to write off a percentage of my rent and utilities. But there is no question that there are some hoops you have to jump through if you want the deduction. The SBA has come to the conclusion that [...]

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Free Tax Information for Freelance Writers

CCH specializes in tax and business law information and makes a point to make themselves available to journalists (including freelance writers and other flavors of professional writers) to help provide reliable tax information. They also publish a free guide to provide specialized tax help to journalists and photographers. More information on the guide is available [...]

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Deduct Those Business Trips!

Most freelance writers work from home, but it’s still possible to put on some miles: conferences, interviews and generally trips to help us build our businesses. To an extent, the expenses we incur on those trips are deductible on our taxes, as long as we meet a few requirements: The trip must be primarily for [...]

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Freelancer Tax Prep: The First Five Steps

Tax season is already starting to get to a lot of us: it feels like there is so much to do and no time to do it in. Personally, I’m of the opinion that any project — taxes included — can be easier to do if you can break it down it easy steps. I’ve [...]

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Tax Tip Monday: Federal Tax ID Numbers

Ever had a client ask for your FEIN, EIN or TIN? They’re the same thing: a Federal Tax (or Employer) ID Number. These numbers are used for companies paying federal taxes. The ‘Employer’ in the name refers to the fact that employers are basically required to have such a number, in order to pay taxes [...]

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