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[pnjtony]

Anyone in here know tax law?

I wanna start doing some side-work going to people's houses and teaching them how to use a PC and some minor repair work. My girlfriend is all worried about paying taxes on what I earn.

What's the most you can make doing something like that without having to claim it on your taxes? I'm not registering as LLC just yet, I wanna see if I even drum up much business.

 

[Phoenix]

To be honest, many of the 'small' operations that don't have receipts or have IRS paperwork don't get claimed come tax time. You 'shouldn't' leave that stuff off your IRS forms, but unless you're talking about thousands of dollars - chances are no action will come of it.

 

[DarthWoo]

I never paid much attention in the tax course, but I think if you just started such a business by yourself, you'd be a sole proprietorship, and any money you make off of it would just be treated like regular taxable income, the same as if you'd made the money from wages.

 

[pnjtony]

Basically my GF doesn't want me to do this till after the first of the year so we don't have to worry about it this tax season, but I told her I wouldn't be making a ton of cash just yet and I just wouldn't claim any of it and that it didn't matter. She didn't like that answer and told me she knew there was a maximum amount you can make a year without having to claim it. I thought it was a dollar, but she thinks it's more and wanted me to find out. I have no clue where to even start looking for that information.

 

[Phoenix]

Basically my GF doesn't want me to do this till after the first of the year so we don't have to worry about it this tax season, but I told her I wouldn't be making a ton of cash just yet and I just wouldn't claim any of it and that it didn't matter. She didn't like that answer and told me she knew there was a maximum amount you can make a year without having to claim it. I thought it was a dollar, but she thinks it's more and wanted me to find out. I have no clue where to even start looking for that information.

Any income you make in the course of business is taxable by both the state and the country and should be claimed. You are 'supposed to' claim that money in the year when it is made. If its a small sum, its likely not going to really impact you tax wise (i.e. a few hundred bucks). When I coauthored Direct3D Professional reference the money I made was significant however and I believe I ended up paying a couple thousand dollars in taxes that year.

 

[pnjtony]

yeah, that's what I figured. I'm not going to make more than a couple hundred this year (if that even). If it takes off good I'll prolly register as an LLC

 

[DarthWoo]

And don't forget that if you LOSE money on the thing with the right expenditures, you can often claim those as deductions.

 

[Phoenix]

And don't forget that if you LOSE money on the thing with the right expenditures, you can often claim those as deductions.

You just have to be very very careful with those types of things and keep all your receipts and documentation nice and net seperate from your other expenditures. While the liklihood of getting audited is slim, if you do you want to make sure you have all of your paperwork lined up.