[Trombone-l] Business advice anyone?

[john wasson]

Alisha--

To pick up on what Eric said, what you might be experiencing is  
something that has only happened here in the north burbs of Dallas  
the last couple of years--County Property Tax applied to small  
businesses. Our county recently realized that they were missing out  
on a lot of taxes of on property used for business (similar to the  
property tax on your house, and collected by the same county tax  
assessor). Since my business is registered with the county as a DBA  
(sole proprietorship), I received a note in the mail along with a  
form to fill out detailing the $$ value of all the equipment I  
currently use in my business, and then I pay an annual tax based upon  
a percentage of that--somewhere between 2-4%, if I remember). If you  
are primarly a player, it will merely be the monetary value of your  
horns.

It's not that big a deal, but it is just one more thing to pay.  
However, like Eric said, we don't have state income tax here in  
Texas, at least there's that. Like the other posters have asked, it's  
important as to "who" it came from; my guess is your county tax office.

Regards,

jw

JOHN WASSON
composer - producer
www.johnwasson.com

===

On Oct 4, 2007, at 12:00 PM, trombone-l-request at maillists.samford.edu  
wrote:

> From: Eric & Candice Swanson <swan325 at earthlink.net>
> Date: October 4, 2007 9:53:41 AM CDT
> To: Trombone-L Trombone <trombone-l at server5.samford.edu>
> Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] Business advice anyone?
> Reply-To: swan325 at earthlink.net
>
>
> Alisha Ard wrote:
>
>> Anyone out there have advice for someone who's primary source of   
>> income has **strangely enough** become trombone playing?  I got a   
>> notice I need to get a Business Tax Registration Certificate, and   
>> this has got me feeling a little out of my element.  I mean, last   
>> year was the first year of my life I wasn't a student, for  
>> heaven's  sake!  So anyone who's done this before, can you give me  
>> a hint?
>>
>
> Alisha,
>
> Ask some of the guys out there if this applies to you.  Did this  
> come from the state?  It sounds like what we have here in Texas if  
> you have a business that is required to collect sales tax on goods  
> or services provided.  Since we do not charge sales tax on trombone  
> playing services, we do not have to have a tax permit for that  
> business.  Your state (CA, right?) could be different, but I've  
> never heard of such a thing for musicians.
>
> You will have to file a Schedule C with your federal income tax  
> Form 1040.  On it, you'll list all your self employed income and  
> list deductions for mileage, expenses like equipment, repairs,  
> music, CDs, uniforms (tuxes or whatever you wear for gigs), travel,  
> etc.  Keep all receipts, and keep a written log of your mileage to  
> and from gigs.  The more you can write off, the less tax you pay,  
> so keep track.
>
> W-2 income, if you have any, goes on the Form 1040 itself.  If you  
> are fairly good with number you can do your taxes using TurboTax.   
> It walks you through the whole process, step by step.
>
> Eric Swanson


JOHN WASSON
composer - producer
www.johnwasson.com