Welcome to the ultimate tax season playbook, designed especially for our freelance artist fam! Tax season blues? Not on our watch! Let’s kick off your prep journey by tackling the basics together. 🙌🌟
Breaking Down the Basics 📚✨
In the tax world, a freelance artist is essentially a one-person small business. So, to begin prepping for your taxes, you will need a record of ‘business-related’ expenses and revenue. Let’s break down what each of these means to make it super simple.
‘Business-Related’ Expenses: essentially, this is the money you have spent to help your career – maybe singing lessons if you’re a performer or art supplies if you are an artist.
Revenue: because you are the business in the world of taxes, your ‘revenue’ is your income.
Now that you’ve got the basic info let the prep party begin! 🎉
Ready, Set, Organize! 📝 🌟
Got a stack of receipts, invoices, and income statements, but feeling a bit lost on what needs to go where? Stick around for some handy tips!
Simply put, taxes are like a money report card – what you spend (expenses) and what you earn (income). Step one? Grab all those receipts with the numbers. Let’s get started!
Income 💰
When reporting your income, you must include everything. The risk involved with not claiming something is just not worth it. This includes both grants and tips.
Grants are a common struggle for artists and freelancers when it comes to tax filing. Which is totally understandable. We recommend checking out this resource created by Generator (specifically page 3) for an awesome visual of how to claim grants.
As for the rest of your income, a great way to clearly record all of it is through invoices. Getting in the habit of invoicing for all of your services, whether $50 or $5000, is key to success. It’ll be your secret weapon come tax time.
Canva and Microsoft both offer some easy-to-use customizable invoice templates to help you get started.
Expenses 🧾
Tracking your expenses is key for maximizing what you can claim as a business expense or write-off. Wondering WTF is a write-off? Check out our previous blog post that breaks it all down.
Simply put, no receipt, no claim. Your business expenses need a paper trail. Find a receipt storage groove that suits you – it’s a must! Want some suggestions? We also have a blog post for that 😉.
Pro tip: If you’re buying something to claim later, jot down the reason right on that receipt. Easy peasy for taxes or audits – no worries, no matter when you bought it.
Magic Tax Filing with Sai🪄
Still feeling overwhelmed? Sick of having to track all of this manually? We feel you.
With Sai, your expenses and revenue are automatically tracked, so you can file your taxes in a single click.
Read through some of our FAQs here to help decide if Sai is right for you. Want access now? Scroll to the bottom of this page to sign up for early access.
