I just did my taxes on Turbo Tax and learned some cool things that I will really need for next year BEECAUSE of all the money I"m going to make with Coastal! It's the home office stuff. In the case of an audit, you must be able to prove you put in 500 hours in your business. So whether you're on a conf. call, training in your back office, calling leads, peddling to businesses, attending a conference....LOG IT in your planner! Also, know the square footage of your home office space. Turbo asks you the square footage of your home, and the square footage of your office space, and asks your utilities bills for the whole house, then gives you your office share of those. (Way cool!) But it was a pain getting out my appraisal to get the house square footage...then measuring the office...so get that put into your tax file! Now, in regular mlm businesses, your starter kit or sample kit, or whatever the company may call it, is deductible. Is our package deductible?? Now, of course, if you purchase a package and never offset that cost through sales, it would be risky to claim it against your income from your other job. I'm talking for someone who brings in $5000 or more for the year from Coastal sales...is the package deductible? I would assume so? I was also advised by another person to manage each check like this: 1/3 in the bank for taxes, 1/3 back into the business, 1/3 for me (debt, needs, personal) Thoughts?? Any other tax tips to add?
Hi Beckie and welcome, Thanks for the tips and to answer your question the package is tax deductible. I appreciate the break down you did on how to disperse the checks, I didn't think of it that way....another tip is you may want to consider incorporating your business. Roger
You can incorporate online, go to your local gov't business office or a corp. lawyer but that can get pricey. If you google "incorporate online" you'll get a few options. I think this is the way to go, it's the best way to reduce your tax liability. Roger
Obviously, going to a lawyer for incorporation is the most thorough. You get the whole works including minute book and a seal. Doing so through an online company, especially if you choose a lower package will get you the basics such as articles of incorporation. But you won't get the little things like the minute books and/or seal, and others. I'm no expert, but for the purpose of running a Coastal business, you could be well set with just the basics and save yourself a few bucks. In my case, when I opened up a retail store previous to starting Coastal, I went through a lawyer just to make sure that I didn't mess anything up or miss out that I would need at a later time. But incorporating it is definitely the way to go. It covers you from liabilities, since the business is considered as a separate entity as you the person and it'll give you better tax advantages as far as I know. Hope this helps. Thomas
Wow...free tax advice. My best recommendation is to hire a tax professional to help you with your taxes. Let the experts do what they do best. Jay NaPier
