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Small breeder question....

norcalCham

norcalCham

Living Color Chameleons
Joined
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Fair Oaks, CA USA
Hello,
I have been breeding chameleons for a few years now and have recently been selling quite a bit with payments coming via paypal. My concern is with Uncle Sam (IRS) in particular. I dont have a business license and am pretty sure that I dont want or need one. Im only talking about a potential of selling $5000 - $10000 worth of animals at best. With expenses and reinvesting the majority of what is made back into my hobby/business is it just a matter of keeping good records of my expenses and transactions in case of an audit. I dont need them poking around thinking Ive made tons of extra cash, lol. I just mention the Paypal part because that would be an easy verifiable way for the govt. to see how much in sales I have had. Just looking to the future to make sure I cover my bases and do things the correct way:)
Thaks for any and all input!
Jason.
 
Hi Jason- short answer yes they can gleen info from CC companies who report that info to them. The positives of reporting your income is the ability to take deductions that are involved in your business activity.
 
CrocEnc said:
Hi Jason- short answer yes they can gleen info from CC companies who report that info to them. The positives of reporting your income is the ability to take deductions that are involved in your business activity.
Click to expand...

Hi Chris, thanks for the feedback! In order to take the deductions would I have to actually get a business license?
 
Different states vary in their business setups but in general you just need a DBA and you can use your SS # as your tax ID. You would just file your taxes as normal reporting the income as well as including your deductions. They only tax actual income which would be the difference between the two figures. Be careful that you are functioning as a business and keep good records as inappropriate hobby deductions are often an audit flag. Just be honest in your accounting and you will have no problems.
 
CrocEnc said:
Different states vary in their business setups but in general you just need a DBA and you can use your SS # as your tax ID. You would just file your taxes as normal reporting the income as well as including your deductions. They only tax actual income which would be the difference between the two figures. Be careful that you are functioning as a business and keep good records as inappropriate hobby deductions are often an audit flag. Just be honest in your accounting and you will have no problems.
Click to expand...

Thanks again for the advice! :)
 
OP, while you may not be "running a business" you will want to hang on to any receipts for your expenses if you accept PayPal. PayPal and other merchant processors are legally required to report certain payment data to the IRS if you exceed $20,000 AND 200 transactions within a calendar year. Just in case you do get one, your expense receipts offsetting all of your hobby income will help you avoid a tax bite.

https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/marketingweb?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=marketing_us/IRS6050W
 
bcr229 said:
OP, while you may not be "running a business" you will want to hang on to any receipts for your expenses if you accept PayPal. PayPal and other merchant processors are legally required to report certain payment data to the IRS if you exceed $20,000 AND 200 transactions within a calendar year. Just in case you do get one, your expense receipts offsetting all of your hobby income will help you avoid a tax bite.

https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/marketingweb?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=marketing_us/IRS6050W
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for the info, thats what I am doing :)
 
According to actual law you also have to charge and pay your states sales tax, unless you are selling out of state.
 
I'd like to jump into the thread, as well. I am also starting to grow very quickly with my own sales of BRBs. Am I wrong in thinking that any net profit that does NOT exceed $5,000 does not have to be claimed? I'm thinking back to highschool when I had a summer job, didn't have to file because I only made 3k.

I would assume the profit of the business latches onto the wages of of a day job to create a total income of the individual, but if the profits are on a business account, seperate from the individual, does this concept still apply? or is there a different set of rules for a business?

Hope I explained that question well... some times what I think in my head doesn't quite translate through my fingers well lol.

Thanks!
 
Wondering the same.

I live in the Bay Area of California and I was wondering a similar thing. I plan on breeding Rhacs and want to know how I could go about avoiding IRS/ business license stuff as I don't believe it's necessary (a least not in the beginning.)

I'm literally at the beginning state of breeding, having six crested babies all under 10g.

What would be the benefit of getting a license? Without? What exactly is a CPS?

Thanks!
-Kris
 
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