Freelancers?

CarrieB.

So DH does freelance writing and since we've been married, it's always just been for one publication that sends us a 1099 every year, so that's been easy enough. I just do turbo tax business every year for him.

Now he's starting to sell fiction and getting paid $15 here, $20 there and he got a contract which means possible commissions next year dependent on book sales. It's all very cool, but as the person who handles all the financial stuff in the house I'm not sure how to handle that end.

Should I just start a business account for him and have all his checks (even the really small ones) go in there for tracking? Or can I wait until he starts making over a certain dollar amount? Check with an accountant? Any advice? With his previous freelance work, we knew how much he would make a year to plan for taxes, but this is way more random.

bcnoelle

I would definitely ask an accountant because tax laws and different pros-cons can vary from state to state and setting up one type of corporation versus another (for example LLC versus S-corp) may save you in different ways, it seems like if he is getting busier having a corporation could be helpful for write-offs (supplies for his business needs, possible travel expenses).