[olug] Part-time Self Employment (Side Jobs)

[Bill Brush]

An accountant is what you need.  I have one in my family if you want a
reference, otherwise I'd just find one you trust.

I talked to the one in my family and we talked for over an hour about the
various and sundry implications.  Basically you need to keep track of
income, and money spent.  Anything you use as part of your business you can
deduct as part of your business expense.  If you use part of your house for
the business, you figure out the percentage of the house you use solely for
the business and you can then deduct that percentage of your utilities as
"business related".  She advised me against depreciating the house as part
of the business as it will come back to bite you when you sell the house.
Tools that are under some rather large dollar amount can be deducted as a
single-year expense.

When you do your taxes you have to add in all your independent income and
deduct your expenses.  You have something like 7 years to turn a profit at
your "business" or the IRS reclassifies it as a "hobby" rather than a
business.

Bill


                                                                                                                                 
                      "Eric Penne"                                                                                               
                      <epenne at olug.org>        To:       <olug at olug.org>                                                         
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                      olug-bounces at olug        Subject:  Re: [olug] Part-time Self Employment (Side Jobs)                        
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                      04/22/2003 03:26                                                                                           
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In Lincoln, ceiling fans need a permit.  Not only because of the
electrical work but also because city code requires a separate switch for
the fan and light.  Stupid rules.

I'm not worried about city code and things like that, they fall under a
different area of business.  I'm really just worried about the "financial"
side of business.