By Holly Sosa
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #DymoandDone #CollectiveBias
Tax season is here and most of my blogger friends are scrambling to get all their stuff in order. As bloggers, we have tons of information we need to pull together and it can get a bit chaotic. From sponsored post payments, to products we receive to facilitate posts that need to be claimed as income. And then from shopping trips for supplies and Internet bills that can be claimed as write offs. It can be an overwhelming mess if we don’t stay on top of it all. As a veteran blogger, I’m here to share my Tax Tips for Bloggers to help get you on track for tax season this year and years to follow.
Keep an income log
Keep a running log each month of your paid posts. This includes sponsored content, items received in exchange for a post, items received for a review post, ad revenue, and anything else considered income. If you track it monthly, it will be so much easier come tax season. If you’re stressed because you haven’t done that all year and now it’s crunch time, don’t worry. Go back and comb through all your posts, tracking on a log, like this handy one from Celebrating Everyday Life. But keep in mind that keeping track throughout the year will help ensure you’re not scrambling at crunch time to get all your income tracked and logged.
Track your blog spending
As bloggers, we incur expenses related directly to our business that can be claimed as deductions. Craft supplies, printer paper, food for recipes, and most anything purchased used for blog posts can be claimed. Keeping a log for this as well as your income is helpful when handing over all of your info to a tax professional or when doing them yourself. When I’m doing my shopping, I try to keep my blog items on a separate receipt so I can easily have them on hand come tax season.
Save your Internet provider bills
A large portion of these bills along with some household bills (if you work from home) can be claimed as deductions. Consult a professional before deciding how much of these to claim. But most bloggers I know use their Internet almost exclusively for blogging and social media, so these are especially important to save for tax season. I save these and record them in my expenses file. Doesn’t my DYMO come in handy?!
Keep labeled file folders
Wrangling all this paperwork and documentation can be overwhelming. But don’t fret, you’re friendly paper-loving blogger is here to share her tips! I use my DYMO LabelWriter® to label my folders since it sits right on my desk and saves me time. I create a folder for each of the following: blog income, blog expenses, and utility bills. Then I print them out directly from text using Excel® on my handy DYMO and stick them directly to my folders. This gadget is so handy and much easier to use than printed sheet labels, which are always so confusing to format and I can print the labels directly from my desk. The thermal printing technology saves me on ink and toner too, thankfully because we’ve been out for months now and I’m still not on top of that situation, ha! The DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Value Pack includes a roll of LW Appointment Card Labels, LW Shipping Labels, LW File Folder Labels and LW Multi-Purpose Labels that allow me to customize and print address, file folder, barcode labels, name badges, and more. Locate your nearest Staples to pick up your own DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Value Pack here.
Use a blog planner
A quick Pinterest search turns up several options for all types of blogger personalities. Many of them offer trackers for the logs I’ve listed above in addition to post planners, social media schedulers, and more. And most of them are for free! When you keep track using a planner, it’s easier to look back on during tax season at your records and share the necessary information required by the IRS. For me, my trusty planner has worked just fine as I’ve repurposed several sections to work for my blog and lifestyle all in one (note how I track daily posts in the bottom margins), but for many bloggers a separate planner is helpful and essential in keeping things organized for tax purposes.
A little extra preparation throughout the year and the handy DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Value Pack help keep you organized and can be the key to a stress-free tax season that saves you valuable time! You know, the time we enjoy spending to create our posts and share our passions on our blogs.
For more ways to use the DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Value Pack and creative tutorials from bloggers like me, be sure to visit the DYMO and Done social hub.
The post Tax Tips for Bloggers, My Filing System appeared first on Our Holly Days.