Well, here are some of the basics that refer to the bookkeeping aspect and the benefit of having a registered business.
First, when you are getting started you need to do three things:
1. Apply to the city for acceptance of your business name. This cost us $35.00. We tried to come up with a name for a while, and looking back, it would be nice to make it G&L photography or something but oh well, GC Photography we are! Gary is actually the owner of the business but that is good, because then this helps to reduce his overall income with all the write offs AND he can pay me a salary for tax purposes.
2. Apply for a business license. I believe this cost $100 and something dollars.
3. Business insurance. Once you have a business, your equipment is NOT covered by your home insurance. If your camera gets stolen from the home or from your car, too bad! Also, you probably want to get some liability coverage in case someone sues you for breaking their leg at your house or something. (PS We also have a contract for weddings so that people cannot sue us or get money back, greater than they have paid us, if they are not happy with the photos).
(If you plan on making more than $30,000 you also need to get a GST number)
So what is one of the benefits of a registered business? For taxes!! Here are some of the things you can write off:
1. If you use your vehicle, you get to write off the percent of km's that you use for work divided by the total use. So, say you use it for work 25% of the time. You can write off 25% of the following; gas, insurance, repairs, and oil.
2. If you use your home for your business, you can write off a percent of your home's expenses. For example, we use 600 square feet of our 2100 square foot home for business (studio space and office). So, we get about 25% of the following written off; insurance, property tax, repairs, hydro, internet, phone, gas, and water. You could even write of cleaning supplies!
3. And all the other obvious things....office supplies, equipment, printing stuff etc.
Basically, because we did not make too much in 2009, we could write it all off and not have to claim any income from photography. Hopefully, with Gary paying me a salary this year, it will work out that we can take money off of Gary's total income this year. Does that make sense?
Next step for us, which we should have done a year ago, is to get a logo. I'll be honest, it's awesome having your partner as a partner 95% of the time, but the other 5%, it's really hard to agree on things creatively because we see things so differently. So yes, we are getting someone else to make us a logo:)
Have a wonderful weekend AND if you haven't joined GC Photography on facebook yet, please do!
