Yes. I know. Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society. But as a detail averse small business owner I hate the process of getting all of the numbers together so the CPA can do his magic.. or voodoo. I buy too much stuff. I usually use a credit card. Doesn't everyone? At the start of tax prep I have to go through hundreds of lines commemorating the indulgent, sometimes impulsive spending and pick out the wheat from the chaff. The deductibles and depreciable expenses from the day-to-day normal guy spending. Leica cameras versus things like coffee, lunch, cool shoes, new swim goggles (which I'm discovering are NOT deductible...).
It was beautiful outside today but I wouldn't know it first hand because I've been tracking down last year's invoices and trying to make them match up with those pesky credit card numbers. Hours and hours of filtering. Yuck.
There's an old joke that's been floating around as long as there have been commercial photographers. It goes like this: How to you make a small fortune in photography? ..... Easy, you just start with a large fortune.
If you do happen to drop your favorite camera onto unrelenting concrete and you are in the biz you can take comfort in knowing that the repair or replacement costs will be deductible. And, if you are a smart photographer you probably have been paying for insurance for your entire career and you'll finally be able to use it. Once. Because I'm sure the insurance company will not renew your policy after they've paid to replace your Hasselblad X2D and your favorite lens...
Perilous times, for sure.
Yes. We should all have powerful accounting or bookkeeping software in our offices. But in the end it's the data entry that crushes your soul. And who knew that Crocs were NOT deductible???
Anyway. That's today's trauma. Should be done in a day or two and my mood will lighten considerably. Until I see the final numbers. And write the frightening check.
After looking at the numbers for 2023 I know one thing. I'm currently working at not working.
10 comments:
Ouch. Love that I can do it all on one page.
R.A.
Good Morning Mr Tuck
First off, I stop by your blog every day just to see what kind of trouble your getting into. I may not comment, but I still read them. As for youTube videos, well I tried one or two, and they're not my cup of Joe. As for camera gear, I own to much so I've been selling it off. I hope to have my gear down to one or two digital bodies and one or two film bodies in the next few week. I'm either going to keep the L mount cameras and adapt Minolta glass to the FP and CL or go with the Nikon Df and F3HP and use Nikon glass.......hmmmm what to do?? Then hit the road in my 1984 Mercedes Benz diesel. Yes, I live in the past. I like it better here. Better than the new, but not so improved future we live in. My wife said I should go on a road trip. I always wanted to be a photojournalist, I studied photojournalism in college until life throw me a few curves, and I had to be a single parent, but that's how it goes. Then just as I getting ready to try it again fate intervened once again. They say, that the third is a charm, we'll see. Fate is a fun thing.
As for taxes, all done. I have my tax guy do all that, I don't worry about it any longer.
We got about 3 inches of snow here in Portland last night so I think I'll go out and do some snow shots before it melts.
Have fun
Roger
Somewhere in the late teens, Congress eliminated the deduction of many - but not all - business expenses. In return, the standard deduction for all went up. It’s high enough now that, for many, it doesn’t make sense to itemize any longer. I got my tax filings done in late February. Since I retired at the end of 2023, doing taxes should be a lot simpler going forward - just as refunds should be much smaller. No more planning for camera purchases with the money I expect back from the government. Boo.
A decent document scanner (along with remembering to scan those receipts, and then remembering where you stuck the scans on your hard drive) really pays off at tax time.
I use Quicken to track everything. Two print outs and I have all the info I need to do an online efile using turbo tax. Being retired has it's perks!!
Eric
I use Slow-en to make the process longer and more painful....
I liked Roger's comment about his lifelong ambition to be a photojournalist. I have had that ambition, too, but never fulfilled it. After retiring from my law practice I have volunteered my services to a small, local weekly in Northern Colorado and have had a ball doing it. I do feature stories with photographs and, since the paper sorely needs that kind of fare, they are eager to publish anything I write (though I do have the good sense not to do anything controversial, at least so far). The best part about it is that they don't pay me anything so I can operate on my own schedule and chase the stories that I want to do. I'm now waiting for National Geographic to see my work and come calling.
I have dropped my favorite camera onto the sidewalk, from on top of a 4' high stone wall. I'd say they are about equal.
I fortunately did have insurance and upgraded from a Nikon D810 to a D850. It lessened the pain quite a bit.
Wow! Check that photo. A selfie deluxe....maybe not under the definition of a selfie, but a really nice shot. Now to read the comments.
Kirk
I feel your pain concerning taxes. At one time I tried using Quicken but found my procrastination either meant I was doing data entry for long periods of time or I had a mountain of paper waiting to be entered into the computer.
Being part of the generation that was taught to keep everything, paper tried to take over my life and house. Now I use a simple folder system. Things that relate to this year’s taxes go into a folder labeled 20XX Taxes and anything else is shredded. It has really cut down on the extraneous paper that needs to be sorted.
Good Luck!
PaulB
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