It’s this Time of the Year

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Benjamin Franklin said that “nothing is certain but death and taxes.”  It’s that time of the year again when we all must sit down and face the reality of just how much we did or did not earn during the last twelve months. Many writers are not aware of how they should be reporting certain income to get the greatest benefit.  Writers can get away with business tax deductions that ordinary people can’t get away with. Michael N. Marcus wrote a great article and showed samples of “tax avoidance”:
“If you are an author or a journalist, the key to creative tax avoidance is to write about things you like.”

 

• If you like to travel, write about travel, and then deduct the cost of traveling.
• If you like cars, rent some really cool cars, and write about them.
• If you like to eat—and who doesn’t?—go to lots of restaurants, attend cooking schools, stock your pantry, and write about food.

Read his whole blog article here:  It’s Time to Think About Taxes

 

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Writers are presumed to be a professional if their writing made a profit in at least three out of the last five tax years, including the current year. Which means:  Not more than two years of expenses that are higher than the author income. Profits from your writing cannot be used to offset other income for tax purposes, such as a day job or other means of income, if you have more than two years of losses.
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Considerations of Profitability
There are a couple of other considerations that revenue agencies, such as the IRS, are listing, for example:

• Have you made a profit in similar activities in the past? If you have a successful book under your belt — or even a series of articles in paid publications, such as newspapers, magazines or online publications, which can be a predictor that you are a professional writer.
• Do you have the knowledge needed to carry on the activity as a successful business? How much do you know about running that business? Are you running it like a business, keeping records, keeping an eye to profitability? Did you take classes/seminars about the publishing business (e.g. marketing or tax etc.) no matter if online or offline?
• Have you created a professional book marketing and publicity plan? This might even be shown by including affiliate programs on your website/blog. If there are losses, are they due to circumstances beyond your control or did they occur in the start-up phase of the business?

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Expenses You Can Deduct
Always try to pay from a separate account, set up for your writing business, to make book keeping easier. Keep receipts or / make copies of payments to contractors, freelancers and agency fees for book production, such as:

• Proofreading
• Editing
• Illustrations
• Photos
• Graphic Design
• Book Layout
• Printing costs
• eBook Formatting
• Advanced Copy reviews
• Book Trailer Design
  .

Book Promotion Costs, e.g.:

• Advertisements, online and offline
• Giveaways (free books, review copies, pens etc.)
• Flyers, brochures, business cards, book marks
• Book Fair expenses
• Costs for newsletters (AWeber, MailChimp etc.)
• Entry fee for writing contests
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Other costs, such as:

• Transportation costs (note the dates, distance, reason)
• Rental for book readings
• Office rental or mortgage, heating, electricity for your home office by square feet
• Phone / Internet / e-Reader costs
• Website / blog costs, such as hosting or development
• Office Supplies
• Meal expenses: in the USA full for public events you might host, and 50% if it is for a business purpose (interview, writers conference, meeting with book professionals, publishers, agents etc.)
• Transportation to meetings, events
• Research costs
• Copyright registration and ISBN fees
• Your tax preparer or tax lawyer.
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Keep all your expense slips sorted by date and neatly filed to make it easier to find them
If you pay anyone of the above listed more than a couple of hundred dollars, you would need to include the contract and a form (in the United States it is IRS Form 1099-MISC). Note for each meal/entertainment expense the names, number of people participating and reason for meeting).

Further Reading:
http://www.freelancetaxation.com/deductions-writers
http://www.bus.lsu.edu/accounting/faculty/lcrumbley/tax_aspects.html

Disclaimer: These tips are meant to give general insight into tax information to writers, especially in the USA, and to give you an entry point so you can research further. While every effort was made to ensure the information in this article is accurate at the time it was written, we are not tax experts. Anyone filing taxes should consult a qualified tax prepare r for updated tax laws and further specifics on how these rules might apply to your individual tax situation.

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $159 for 3 months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/ to advertise your new book, specials or your KDP Select Free Days.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1.070 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://www.111publishing.com

http://www.e-Book-PR.com/

http://www.international-ebooks.com/

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

 

 

Authors: Which of Your Expenses are Tax-Deductible?

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Income tax preparation might be months away, but it is never too early to start collecting expense receipts. Many self-published book authors want to make a profit and become a professional author, having writing as their vocation.  Writers are presumed to be a professional if their writing made a profit in at least three out of the last five tax years, including the current year. Which means:  Not more than two years of expenses that are higher than the author income. Profits from your writing cannot be used to offset other income for tax purposes, such as a day job or other means of income, if you have more than two years of losses.
.
Considerations of Profitability
There are a couple of other considerations that revenue agencies, such as the IRS, are listing, for example:

• Have you made a profit in similar activities in the past? If you have a successful book under your belt — or even a series of articles in paid publications, such as newspapers, magazines or online publications, which can be a predictor that you are a professional writer.
• Do you have the knowledge needed to carry on the activity as a successful business? How much do you know about running that business? Are you running it like a business, keeping records, keeping an eye to profitability? Did you take classes/seminars about the publishing business (e.g. marketing or tax etc.) no matter if online or offline?
• Have you created a professional book marketing and publicity plan? This might even be shown by including affiliate programs on your website/blog. If there are losses, are they due to circumstances beyond your control or did they occur in the start-up phase of the business?

.
Expenses You Can Deduct
Always try to pay from a separate account, set up for your writing business, to make book keeping easier. Keep receipts or / make copies of payments to contractors, freelancers and agency fees for book production, such as:

• Proofreading
• Editing
• Illustrations
• Photos
• Graphic Design
• Book Layout
• Printing costs
• eBook Formatting
• Advanced Copy reviews
• Book Trailer Design
  .

Book Promotion Costs, e.g.:

• Advertisements, online and offline
• Giveaways (free book review copies, pens etc.)
• Flyers, brochures, business cards, book marks
• Book Fair expenses
• Costs for newsletters (AWeber, MailChimp etc.)
• Entry fee for writing contests
  .

Other costs, such as:

• Transportation costs (note the dates, distance, reason)
• Rental for book readings
• Office rental or mortgage, heating, electricity for your home office by square feet
• Phone / Internet / e-Reader costs
• Website / blog costs, such as hosting or development
• Office Supplies
• Meal expenses: in the USA full for public events you might host, and 50% if it is for a business purpose (interview, writers conference, meeting with book professionals, publishers, agents etc.)
• Transportation to meetings, events
• Research costs
• Copyright registration and ISBN fees
• your tax preparer or tax lawyer.
  .

Keep all your expense slips sorted by date and neatly filed to make it easier to find them
If you pay anyone of the above listed more than a couple of hundred dollars, you would need to include the contract and a form (in the United States it is IRS Form 1099-MISC). Note for each meal/entertainment expense the names, number of people participating and reason for meeting)

Further Reading:
http://www.freelancetaxation.com/deductions-writers
http://www.bus.lsu.edu/accounting/faculty/lcrumbley/tax_aspects.html

Disclaimer: These tips are meant to give general insight into tax information to writers, especially in the USA, and to give you an entry point so you can research further. While every effort was made to ensure the information in this article is accurate at the time it was written, we are not tax experts. Anyone filing taxes should consult a qualified tax prepare r for updated tax laws and further specifics on how these rules might apply to your individual tax situation.

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $159 for 3 months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars
Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/ to advertise your new book, specials or your KDP Select Free Days.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 940 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing
http://www.111publishing.com
http://www.e-Book-PR.com/
http://www.international-ebooks.com/
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Hyper Smash

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Benefits of Becoming a Publisher

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Did you write three or more books already?
Congratulations to every author who accomplishes this with lots of perseverance. You really have earned your royalties. For sure, the “Taxman” is as happy as you are. But you also had expenses and should be able to deduct them from taxes that you pay for royalties. For sure you will write more books, so it is almost natural to register as publisher and deduct even more expenses:
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• Computer, printer, fax, scanner, copier and other office equipment
• Furniture, carpet, blinds, cleaning material, cost for a maid etc.
• Telephone, cell, wireless, cable
• Insurances, banking fees
• Software and computer training
• Travel cost such as hotel, car, taxi, plane
• Car payments, car insurance, gas, repairs
• Webhosting, Domain name, web designer
• Writers and publisher conferences
• e-Book conversions, cover design, editing, copy editing, layout and desktop publishing
• Rent / Mortgage and Heating / Electricity etc. for the space you work in – and storage for your books if you go the “paper route”.
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You can find lots of practical tips how to set up your own publishing company and how to distribute your book worldwide in a series of articles here at this blog.  Self-publishing “Guru” Dan Poynter’s book “Self-publishing Manual” describes in detail all the tax breaks.
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Another professional adviser in all things print, publishing and book distribution is Aaron Shepard, who wrote: “Aiming at Amazon” and “POD for Profit“. His great knowledge of book distribution is extremely helpful for newcomers to publishing. A good idea is to sign up for Aaron Shepard’s blog.  Learn more about the process to become a small publisher from these blogs & web sites:

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https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/how-to-plan-your-publishing-business/

https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/how-to-start-your-own-book-publishing-business/

https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/becoming-your-own-publisher-book-production/

https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/how-to-organize-printing-or-print-on-demand/

https://savvybookwriters.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/distribution-of-your-print-book/

http://www.aliciadunams.com/starting-your-own-publishing-company/

http://parapub.com/sites/para/information/produce.cfm

http://www.wellfedwriter.com/blog/

http://booknotselling.blogspot.com/

http://www.bookmarket.com/
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The advantage of business ownership for independent authors far outweights the work involved.  And deciding to write a book means, that you already have decided to be in business. Go for it! What holds you back?

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only $ 159 for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/     Once you are on this website, click on Seminar to register.

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 815 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and to StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Hyper Smash

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