Author Topic: Tax questions... anyone else finishing up this weekend? (Read 3426 times)

stockmarketer · « **on:** April 15, 2011, 18:32 »

Hi gang,

I have to write some big checks to the IRS and my state this year, so I've held off until I really had to do it.

Now that I'm trying to wrap it all up, I realize that I'm missing some info...

I moved late in 2010, and I might not have changed my address at all the microstock sites to get them to send the 1099s to my new address. I know what I made in 2010, so I am fine in filling in the amounts, but I think I need an EIN (Employer Identification Number) for each of the agencies. I did get my 1099s for some of them, but I'm missing a bunch...

Anyone know the EINs for:

iStock
CanStockPhoto
123RF
HAAP/StockXpert/Thinkstock

Regarding iStock... I read somewhere that they don't send 1099s. Is that correct?

disorderly · « **Reply #1 on:** April 15, 2011, 18:42 »

I just added up the payments from the agencies that didn't/don't send 1099s and reported it on the appropriate form. No place to identify who paid what, so I didn't. The IRS didn't complain; I got my refund in good time.

And no, iStock doesn't send a 1099. I assume it's because they're a Canadian company.

stockmarketer · « **Reply #2 on:** April 15, 2011, 18:46 »

I would try the "add them up" approach, but if they actually did send 1099s and I just didn't get them because of my move, that could raise a flag at the IRS and get me audited. I want to do the best I can to break out all the ones that paid me enough to trigger a 1099. I'm scouring the Intertubes, but can't find the EINs anywhere.

lisafx · « **Reply #3 on:** April 15, 2011, 18:52 »

The sites you mentioned didn't send 1099s. I only got 1099s from SS, BigStock, Fotolia, Dreamstime, and Veer, despite being on the rest.

stockmarketer · « **Reply #4 on:** April 15, 2011, 19:10 »

Cool. Those are the exact ones I got. So do you simply add the rest up and enter it as Miscellaneous or something?

lisafx · « **Reply #5 on:** April 15, 2011, 19:14 »

Sorry, wish I remembered. The past two years I was incorporated, so it went under corporate income. Can't remember how the accountant handled it for 2008 taxes.

disorderly · « **Reply #6 on:** April 15, 2011, 20:39 »

Quote from: stockmarketer on April 15, 2011, 19:10

Cool. Those are the exact ones I got. So do you simply add the rest up and enter it as Miscellaneous or something?

TurboTax put it on Schedule C, Part I (Income). The first line (unnumbered) reads "Enter other gross receipts or sales (not reported on 1099)".

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #7 on:** April 15, 2011, 20:59 »

Anybody take the Home Office Deduction?

stockmarketer · « **Reply #8 on:** April 15, 2011, 22:59 »

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on April 15, 2011, 20:59

Anybody take the Home Office Deduction?

I hear that's a flag that can trigger an audit... if you try to deduct too much, you could be calling unwanted attention to yourself. You'd have to be realistic about how much of the time spent in the office is spent on your business, and be conservative about utilities -- electric, internet, etc. So you'd probably have to scale it down to a pretty small number, and when you get down that low, you have to ask if it's worth it... how badly do you want to risk an audit? My dad used to do taxes for H&R Block, and one of my best friends is a CPA, and they both talked me out of the home office deduction.

ppdd · « **Reply #9 on:** April 15, 2011, 23:02 »

I looked hard at the home office deduction again... If I were full time, I would have done it. But I can't quite make it look completely airtight (computer and room gets a bit of general family use, even though it's 80% business). I skipped it.

SNP · « **Reply #10 on:** April 15, 2011, 23:14 »

I'm still organizing my W-7 so Getty will stop withholding 30% of my income. can't believe the hoops you have to jump through to deal with the IRS. it isn't any better dealing with Revenue Canada either.

Anita Potter · « **Reply #11 on:** April 15, 2011, 23:24 »

I'm screwed until May. I only have royalties and can't afford to file it online until May when I get paid. So if I knew which * forms I needed (since the IRS was of no help or didn't exactly know what I was talking about) I'd be all done and out in the mail.

Why do they have to make this *bleep* so * hard?

louoates · « **Reply #12 on:** April 16, 2011, 10:03 »

Quote from: Anita Potter on April 15, 2011, 23:24

I'm screwed until May. I only have royalties and can't afford to file it online until May when I get paid. So if I knew which forms I needed (since the IRS was of no help or didn't exactly know what I was talking about) I'd be all done and out in the mail.

Why do they have to make this *bleep* so hard?

Sounds like someone needs a CPA badly. At least to help straighten out this current mess. I've dealt with the IRS several times from the wrong side of the argument. I've learned: You ALWAYS FILE on time. You ALWAYS PAY on time -- despite when you get paid. You MUST plan tax stuff ahead. You probably SHOULD be paying estimated taxes computed by the CPA.

One more thing. You NEVER trust what the IRS tells you over the phone.

Anita Potter · « **Reply #13 on:** April 16, 2011, 11:55 »

Quote from: louoates on April 16, 2011, 10:03

Sounds like someone needs a CPA badly. At least to help straighten out this current mess. I've dealt with the IRS several times from the wrong side of the argument. I've learned: You ALWAYS FILE on time. You ALWAYS PAY on time -- despite when you get paid. You MUST plan tax stuff ahead. You probably SHOULD be paying estimated taxes computed by the CPA.

One more thing. You NEVER trust what the IRS tells you over the phone.

Yeah realized that once I got the forms and started to fill them out and got extremely confused. I'm just going to bite the bullet and pay penalties next month then next year get someone to do this for me so I can learn which ones I need to file then do it all on my own. Which is what I normally do but with dealing with just royalties only and no other income it's been a struggle just to figure out what I'm supposed to be filing.

This is the first year that I've not been on top of my tax stuff. I don't ever want to go through this again.

sjlocke · « **Reply #14 on:** April 16, 2011, 12:41 »

"Which is what I normally do but with dealing with just royalties only and no other income it's been a struggle just to figure out what I'm supposed to be filing."

?

Royalties are just business income. Nothing special.

cthoman · « **Reply #15 on:** April 16, 2011, 13:04 »

2010? That was last year. It's all about 2011 1st quarter now. Taxes are a year round process. Yay!!

jsnover · « **Reply #16 on:** April 16, 2011, 13:26 »

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on April 15, 2011, 20:59

Anybody take the Home Office Deduction?

No. Given that I use it (and the studio space in a spare bedroom) for multiple uses, I think it'd be asking for trouble. Given the relative size of my income in the family mix, it isn't worth the unpleasantness of an audit.

louoates · « **Reply #17 on:** April 16, 2011, 13:37 »

The home deduction is a red flag of enormous proportions. Think of the size of the U.S. flag on an aircraft carrier. Take it if you absolutely have an insatiable desire for an IRS audit.

I believe that there's also a downside to getting that deduction properly. I seem to remember that that deduction needs to be "recaptured" when you sell the property. It may be that that portion of the residence is "outside" the normal liberal home sale exclusion. Check with that aspect of the deduction with a CPA who can explain the latest wrinkles in a very convoluted tax code.

Short advice: IRS agents also need work. So forget about the home office deduction.

sjlocke · « **Reply #18 on:** April 16, 2011, 13:56 »

My CPA says the audit fear is old school and a lot of people these days work from home and take the deduction, so it isn't unusual at all anymore.

visceralimage · « **Reply #19 on:** April 16, 2011, 14:11 »

Worrying about IRS is so "old school"

Signed: Wesley Snipes, Cell Block D, Florida Penitentiary

Seriously, I have done the home tax deduct so many times, I forget the number, never a problem. Be reasonable, don't say your home office is more than 15% of your home and you should be fine.

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #20 on:** April 16, 2011, 14:42 »

Quote from: sjlocke on April 16, 2011, 13:56

My CPA says the audit fear is old school and a lot of people these days work from home and take the deduction, so it isn't unusual at all anymore.

That's what I've been reading

louoates · « **Reply #21 on:** April 16, 2011, 16:56 »

Google these key words: home office irs red flag

If you still want to face a significant greater risk of audit (whether or not justified) be my guest.

sjlocke · « **Reply #22 on:** April 16, 2011, 18:23 »

I've taken it for the last 3-4 years. No issue.

Allsa · « **Reply #23 on:** April 16, 2011, 21:06 »

I'd take the deduction if I had a room dedicated to my illustration work, but my 'office' is a corner of the dining room.

jbarber873 · « **Reply #24 on:** April 16, 2011, 21:19 »

Taking the deduction for your home is still a flag. The idea with the IRS is to stay under the radar, take only reasonable and justifiable deductions, and have lots of paperwork to back it up. There's a reason they put a little checkbox asking whether you took this deduction. The test is that the space is used 100% of the time for business, and cannot possibly be reconfigured easily to another , personal use. And they WILL come and look, and once that auditor comes to your house, he's not going back with a "no change". He's got to pay his way..In an audit situation, the auditor will usually try to cut a deal on stuff that would take too long to deal with on a piece by piece basis ( i.e petty cash receipts), but the home deduction is all or none, and they will give you none, and it's up to you to pay a lawyer to defend it. And if you think that you're safe because you've gotten away with it for 3 or 4 years, you're wrong. Most full audits take a few years to wind through the system, and once they find it in one year, they will go back to the others. I've been there and fought these battles, and they are not worth the trouble and money. The best advice I could give is to incorporate. As a sole prop, I'm a big target. As a corporation, I'm lost in the crowd- just where I want to be.