Greatest hits: Freelance tax tips

January 24th, 2008

It’s the most wonderful time of the year (that is, if you’re a CPA). That’s right, folks, tax season is upon us. And not surprisingly, I’ve had a couple requests recently for a round-up of this site’s past posts on paying your freelance taxes.

Before we get to the round-up, I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you that I’m a freelance writer, not a financial professional. Tax laws change every year, and no one knows their nuances better than your friendly tax professional. So although you can get some initial pointers from a freelance blog, I wouldn’t substitute them for the almighty input of someone who’s trained to fill out tax returns. Capiche?

OK, back to our regularly scheduled programming…

• Freelance tax FAQ, in which I answer some of the most common federal tax questions (U.S.) that newbie freelancers ask me (inarguably the most popular post on this blog — go figure!)
• Tax day for freelancers, in which my friend the CPA answers a few of my questions about estimated quarterly tax payments
• Tax day, take two, in which my friend the CPA answers yet another quarterly tax payment question
• Boneheaded tax writeoff of the week, in which an ambitious yet misguided freelancer tries to write off all his work on his blog as “marketing expenses”
• How long should I save financial records? in which Bankrate comes to the rescue with some handy guidelines

Additional resources:

• 50 tools and resources for freelancers during tax season, courtesy of Bootstrapper
• Tax tips for freelance writers by Debbie Ridpath Ohi of Will Write for Chocolate
• IRS Small Business and Self-Employed One-Stop Resource page, which is surprisingly easy to navigate
• Your tax professional of choice. Because, remember folks, I’m not a CPA, nor do I play one on TV. I don’t do my taxes myself because I don’t know how (nor do I want to); I pay a CPA to do them for me. And unless you understand every single word on your federal tax forms, so should you.

Entry Filed under: This freelance life, She's the boss, Money honey, Toolbox, Ask the Cubicle Expat