Considerations for going official with Zenfolio.

juicegoose · Jan 28, 2014

Let me start by saying I do photography as a hobby but for the last couple of months I have had at least 1 client a month pay me for a shoot. Nothing big but my concerns follow.
For weeks I have read articles on the pro's and con's of taking your phtography from a hobby to a business. Some people say unless your basically doing it full time then you shouldn't worry about setting up business and tax id's and such. I know that it is more of a hassle but I would be lying if I didn't say that I was afraid Mr. tax man will come and get me. I did purchase a website to host my pictures and allow friends, family and persons that buy my services to look at their photos. My wife has given me cards to pass out, mainly because her coworkers want them. To me that constitues that I am representing myself as a business without a business tax id and such. I use zenfolio for web hosting and they have great features setup for setting price lists on orders and offering gift certificates and such. I've been simply charging for the session and then a digital release of the photos but I feel like I could make more if I was able to charge more then base pricing on the photo packages offered through my site. My head is spinning and I've gone into internet information overload on the direction I should take to legally setup a business and tax ID. Can anyone offer some advice? It would be greatly appreciated.

Also if any Zenfolio users that have price lists and such setup on their site could p.m. me I would love to chat about the route they took.

Thanks again
Adam.

Designer · Jan 28, 2014

You should talk to your state department of revenue, or whatever it's called to get a tax ID. This is something you should do even if you're only part time. In my state, we are required to submit quarterly payments based on our sales. I think you will be required to submit quarterly payments to the federal government as well.

I'm not a professional photographer, but it seems that giving your digital files you're giving away lots of potential income. You should offer prints primarily, and perhaps the files if you are paid enough. I can't say if you should give away your digital files, but maybe one of the pros will chime in.

juicegoose · Jan 28, 2014

The concern i have about starting the business is only because I want to be able to collect profit off of online prints. Zenfolio allows me to input my tax id or ssn for tax collection purposes. Once done it allows me to then place a percent increase on the base pricing of the photos. If I understand correctly I can setup a DBA with the county and utilize my SSN for my tax id. This however would not protect me in case of a insurance nightmare. I'm talking about maybe making 300-400 a month and that is probably pushing it if you averaged out my session fees.

KmH · Jan 28, 2014

What constitutes a legal business varies by country, state, county and city. Your profile has no location information, but from what you have posted so far it seems you are in the US.
Check with your City Clerk for local requirements, and online state Department of Revenue for sales and use tax rquirements.

Often, part of what is required to be a legal business is business liability insurance and a business bank account.
Also many homeowner policies will not only not cover you business liability wise, they will not cover your photography gear if it's used in a business. Check with your insurance agent.

As far as the feds - Business or Hobby - Answer Has Implications for Deductions

manicmike · Jan 28, 2014

KmH said:
What constitutes a legal business varies by country, state, county and city. Your profile has no location information, but from what you have posted so far it seems you are in the US.
Check with your City Clerk for local requirements, and online state Department of Revenue for sales and use tax rquirements.

Often, part of what is required to be a legal business is business liability insurance and a business bank account.
Also many homeowner policies will not only not cover you business liability wise, they will not cover your photography gear if it's used in a business. Check with your insurance agent.

As far as the feds - Business or Hobby - Answer Has Implications for Deductions

Like Keith said, last time I checked for my area the guidelines were very vague for when you need a business license. I'd say in most cases it's better just to be safe.

juicegoose · Jan 29, 2014

Thanks guys ill do some more research.

randyphotoforum · Jan 29, 2014

juicegoose said:
Let me start by saying I do photography as a hobby but for the last couple of months I have had at least 1 client a month pay me for a shoot. Nothing big but my concerns follow.
For weeks I have read articles on the pro's and con's of taking your phtography from a hobby to a business. Some people say unless your basically doing it full time then you shouldn't worry about setting up business and tax id's and such. I know that it is more of a hassle but I would be lying if I didn't say that I was afraid Mr. tax man will come and get me. I did purchase a website to host my pictures and allow friends, family and persons that buy my services to look at their photos. My wife has given me cards to pass out, mainly because her coworkers want them. To me that constitues that I am representing myself as a business without a business tax id and such. I use zenfolio for web hosting and they have great features setup for setting price lists on orders and offering gift certificates and such. I've been simply charging for the session and then a digital release of the photos but I feel like I could make more if I was able to charge more then base pricing on the photo packages offered through my site. My head is spinning and I've gone into internet information overload on the direction I should take to legally setup a business and tax ID. Can anyone offer some advice? It would be greatly appreciated.

Also if any Zenfolio users that have price lists and such setup on their site could p.m. me I would love to chat about the route they took.

Thanks again
Adam.

PM me anytime, i went thru all this 8 years ago

KmH · Jan 29, 2014

manicmike said:
Like Keith said, last time I checked for my area the guidelines were very vague for when you need a business license. I'd say in most cases it's better just to be safe.

Most towns and cities just require paying a nominal fee for registering the business but don't require having a license. Most will require the business have liability insurance.
They usually check if someone else is already using the same business name, and may have an additional fee if you need to register as a DBA (Doing Business As).
Register Your Fictitious or "Doing Business As" (DBA) Name | SBA.gov

There are many varied local rules.
In the small town where I live there is an ordnance that prohibits conducting a business from your home.

robbins.photo · Jan 29, 2014

juicegoose said:
Let me start by saying I do photography as a hobby but for the last couple of months I have had at least 1 client a month pay me for a shoot. Nothing big but my concerns follow.
For weeks I have read articles on the pro's and con's of taking your phtography from a hobby to a business. Some people say unless your basically doing it full time then you shouldn't worry about setting up business and tax id's and such. I know that it is more of a hassle but I would be lying if I didn't say that I was afraid Mr. tax man will come and get me. I did purchase a website to host my pictures and allow friends, family and persons that buy my services to look at their photos. My wife has given me cards to pass out, mainly because her coworkers want them. To me that constitues that I am representing myself as a business without a business tax id and such. I use zenfolio for web hosting and they have great features setup for setting price lists on orders and offering gift certificates and such. I've been simply charging for the session and then a digital release of the photos but I feel like I could make more if I was able to charge more then base pricing on the photo packages offered through my site. My head is spinning and I've gone into internet information overload on the direction I should take to legally setup a business and tax ID. Can anyone offer some advice? It would be greatly appreciated.

Also if any Zenfolio users that have price lists and such setup on their site could p.m. me I would love to chat about the route they took.

Thanks again
Adam.

Mr. Taxman can be a problem - but a much bigger problem is Mr. & Mrs. Lawsuit. If you are going to be doing any kind of photoshoots where you are getting paid, you need to absolutely get a tax id, setup a proper business to protect your personal assests should you wind up getting sued, get some insurance and for goodness sake always get a contract for everything that you do regardless of who you are doing it for - otherwise you are leaving yourself open to what could be some major heartache down the road.

As KMH mentioned some home owner policies will cover certain events and possibly equipment for you, but make sure you have some basic liablity insurance should you be out and about on a photoshoot and someone gets hurt. Most home owner policies will only cover what happens in the home.

Think of it in these terms, you probably wouldn't want to do business with someone who was running some fly by night under the table operation, so do your clients a favor and don't be one yourself.

Now if your just selling prints online that changes the equation somewhat, your not opening yourself up to the kind of liablilites you do when you are actually out doing photoshoots - but even so I'd still recommend getting a tax id and reporting every bit of that income.

12sndsgood · Feb 1, 2014

If your selling prints online and doing some decent sales it's definitely worth the time it takes to get your tax id (think it took me maybe 30 minutes) do your homework find out what you need, what your city needs as far as any license etc. Big one for me remembering is state sales tax. get your ducks in a row, my sales on zenfolio pay for both my websites as well as most of my insurance for the year ( I've only been in business for 18 months so still don't make a ton) You may think of yourself as a hobby because your not making a ton of cash. but if your getting into the 300-400 a month range or even half that I'd put money on it that your state would consider it illegal and come at your hard.