# Being a Freelance Artist and dealing with Taxes



## InkMachine (Feb 23, 2007)

Hi Everyone,

I'm curious on how some of the other freelance artists around these parts handle their taxes and business type stuff....so I'm just going to throw out a few questions here.

==Do you file quarterly?
==Did you file for a DBA, Incorporate or form an LLC?
==How many of you actually make a living off of your freelance work as your only form of income?
==Do you accept payment in any form other than Paypal?

I am employeed at a screenprinting shop as the art department and do freelance work on the side. I usually only make around $2k-4k a year on my freelance work and that 4k doesn't happen often lol.

Thanks for any thoghts on the questions...looking forward to hearing from you.


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## queerrep (Jul 18, 2006)

InkMachine said:


> ==Do you file quarterly?


Yes.  I cough up $3,000 every 3 months.


> ==Did you file for a DBA, Incorporate or form an LLC?


DBA.


> ==How many of you actually make a living off of your freelance work as your only form of income?


I do. I also have a t-shirt business, but it's more of a side project for my graphic design business.


> ==Do you accept payment in any form other than Paypal?


Checks.


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## TeddyRocky (Mar 23, 2007)

$3000 every 3 months?!?!!? Wow, you must make a lot of sales.


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## queerrep (Jul 18, 2006)

TeddyRocky said:


> $3000 every 3 months?!?!!? Wow, you must make a lot of sales.


That's for my graphic design business because I set it up as a DBA.  I don't pay quarterly taxes on the t-shirt biz because I filed as an LLC.


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## TeddyRocky (Mar 23, 2007)

Is your graphic DBA under your T-Shirt LLC? 

Then shouldn't you just file taxes as personal income? 

Our company has an LLC, and several DBA's. We file taxes as personal income fed and state...


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## queerrep (Jul 18, 2006)

TeddyRocky said:


> Is your graphic DBA under your T-Shirt LLC?
> 
> Then shouldn't you just file taxes as personal income?
> 
> Our company has an LLC, and several DBA's. We file taxes as personal income fed and state...


No, my graphic DBA was created 5 years ago while my LLC was done recently and they are totally separate entities and businesses. My DBA is filed as personal income but I have no idea how the LLC is filed because my partner takes care of that.


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## InkMachine (Feb 23, 2007)

I still am not sure what exactly I should do....I really only make a small amount each year on freelance stuff...so should I just file for a DBA?


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## queerrep (Jul 18, 2006)

I say file for DBA but really you should ask an accountant what is best for your situation.


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## TeddyRocky (Mar 23, 2007)

What we did is...

We created a parent LLC company. And for every business we have, we have a DBA for each one. We currently have 3 DBA's under the parent LLC. 

It makes it a lot easier for financial reasons.
We submit taxes as personal income at the end of the year.


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