Storyteller's Journey

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Tax Time...a Taxing Time!

With January 31st looming as the deadline, last Saturday my husband and I sat down and calculated our business/excise taxes - it took us four hours! (While we have an accountant who processes our personal taxes, our creative business is still small enough that we can handle our state taxes.) Still, every new year we dread the day that we always set aside to sit down and do this unpleasant task.

Over the last four years that I've had a business license, I've learned - little by little - a few small techniques to ease the pain of calculating my taxes. While each state has its own requirements for the information they request from writers, artists, and musicians, the process that all creatives go through at tax time surely must be much the same.

As a writer, these are the ideas I implement to prepare for tax time:

1- Record receipts and payments with each transaction in a book. (Place miscellaneous receipts in an envelope and tuck it in the book's pocket.)

2- Keep all receipts for each book event in a labeled envelope.

3- Keep receipts for each workshop, retreat, etc. in a manila envelope.

Take all of the above envelopes and place them in a labeled folder.

Place the ledger book with the folder & keep it in a drawer of your desk or a file cabinet. Repeat this process each year as the months go by.

These steps better prepare you to pay your taxes as a writer.

Wishing each of you all the best at this taxing time!

NOTE: I am not an accountant or a financial adviser. These are merely simple steps that help me. If you have questions about paying your own taxes you should seek professional advice.