gl.

site feed by atom

Friday, April 07, 2006

 
11:40 AM: taxing [#] [0]

ach. i finally paid my taxes. i didn't make much last year (and most of it was thanks to psu), but thanks to the self-employment tax, my total tax bill was about $2500. but i was hoping for a break because i intuitively knew this was the year i should spend a lot on the studio so those expenses would qualify as deductions, but even so it took almost everything i had set aside in my alternate account for this purpose.

if i had "arts education" as a mission, this is part of what it would be about: as an artist or other self-employeed person, what i charge is not just for the paper & ink, but has to encompass taxes, insurance, rent, promotion, etc. things with frames are exceptionally difficult, because often the cost of the frame alone exceeds the perceived cost of the item. most artists have a hard enough time charging for the basic materials, which is why i approve of the trillium artisans mission, which requires the artist to charge a liveable hourly wage, as well.

because i hired a tax person this year, i also learned that $80 of my irs payment was a penalty fee for paying my quarterly estimated taxes late (in this case, "late" means "not at all") -- something i have never done as a freelancer/entrepreneur and must have always been rolled into my tax burden, but nobody ever told me. the quarterly tax estimates have always been ju-ju to me, an amorphous cloud i've chosen to ignore, but i don't think i can do that anymore.