Create and Manage Your Etsy Invoices for Export Effortlessly

Etsy invoices for Export

hello everyone and welcome back to my Channel today we're going to dive into a crucial topic for all Etsy sellers filing your income taxes as an Etsy seller since 20120 I have filed my taxes both with professional tax services and through QuickBook self-employed and Turbo Tax filing your taxes as an Etsy seller especially a print and aand seller can be really intimidating but it's actually simpler than you think I recall my first year filing taxes as being really stressful I really didn't know how or what to do to prepare for them whether I needed to form an LLC or if I could just be a soul proprietor so in today's video I'm going to address whether or not you need to form an LLC and walk you through how to prepare for filing your income taxes and I even created for you a free tax preparation PDF checklist if you would like to follow along with that which I'll link in the description box below before we start just a quick disclaimer that I am definitely not a tax expert and this video is for informational purposes only I do recommend speaking to or hiring a tax professional a CPA or an accountant for at least your first year just so you know that your filing everything correctly and you have the most accurate and up-to-date information for your own unique business because it is important to note that tax laws do vary state by state and can change over time for the purpose of today's video we will be discussing fent income taxes in the United States so if you live outside of the US this will not apply to you let's jump in as an Etsy seller you're essentially running a small business this means you're responsible for reporting your income to the tax authorities whether you made $100 or $55,000 or more or you're proprietor an LLC or some other type of business entity understand your tax obligations is the first step and speaking of llc's a frequent question that I get is whether or not you need to form an LLC to sell an Etsy and to file taxes and the answer is no you do not have to have an LLC to sell an Etsy or file taxes I personally began selling an Etsy as a s proprietor where essentially you use your social security number in place of an EIN number or a tax ID number to file your taxes it's really important to note that when you open a new Etsy Shop make sure you update your taxpayer information like adding in your social security number if you are a SLE proprietor or your tax ID number if you have formed an LLC on etsy's site or they can actually close your shop for not being compliant now I did eventually choose to form an LLC because having an LLC does add an extra layer protection around your personal assets on the off chance that a customer would attempt to sue me or my business with an LLC they wouldn't be able to sue my personal assets or me as a person they would sue my business so an LLC just gives you an extra layer of protection if someone were to sue you luckily no one has ever tried to sue me since I've began selling an ny and I don't personally know anyone who has been sued by a customer but it's nice to know that I have the extra layer protection just in case it cost me around $100 to apply for an LLC and I did it through my government's website cost to apply for an LLC very by state now that you know that you are in fact a business and that you don't need to apply for an LLC let's talk about how to manage your expenses and income as far as sales taxes concerned Etsy does collect and remit sales tax on your behalf so for the sake of this video we will be focusing on filing your income taxes which Etsy does not collect for you so you are responsible for paying and Reporting any tax liabilities on the income that you make on Etsy yourself so now let's talk about the 1099 K form so if you made over $20,000 in revenue and more than 200 Sales Etsy will send you a 1099 K form however this threshold may be changing when you go to file taxes next year because Etsy is expected to start sending 1099 K forms to any sellers who make over $600 USD this threshold did not go into effect this year as it was delayed until next year so once again be sure to check with your local CPA or accountant for the most up-to-date information for your business what is a 1099 K form a 1099 K form is used to report your gross sales to the IRS as part of filing your taxes gross sales on your 1099 K form ing to the SE help center article about taxes which I'll link for you below may include but are not limited to all of your sales shipping refunds card processing fees and canceled orders so if you receive your $110.99 form you may notice a difference between the income that Etsy has reported and the actual Revenue that you sold on Etsy and that showing on Etsy the total revenue shown on your 1099 form is more than what you actually sold because the total doesn't reflect canceled or refunded sales shipping fees or card processing fees so it's important to note that you will write off any order cancellations or refunds you have from your total revenue shown on your $10.99 keep in mind you're only required to pay taxes on the actual profit that you made on your business after deducting all of your expenses to ensure that you're prepared it is crucial to track all of your expenses throughout the year this way you'll get a clear picture of your profit when it comes time to deduct your business expenses and good recordkeeping is your best friend when it comes to taxes it's important to track all of your sales expenses and receipts for your Etsy business this includes materials shipping costs and even home office expenses when applicable I personally track my expenses two different ways one way is using an income and expense tracker tool which I also use to track my estimated taxes each year which I'll talk more about later in this video and I'll link for you below another way I also track my business expenses is using QuickBook self-employed which I'll link for you below as well personally I prefer using the income and expense tracker and then matching that against what is showing on QuickBooks so that no expenses write off or income that should be reported is missed this also gives me lots of detailed records for me to give my accountants when it's time to file on my taxes now let's talk tax deductions while I'm not a tax expert I can give you some items to discuss with your tax professional they can guide you on which expenses are eligible for writeoffs and the applicable percentages remember to keep track of your expenses including printing services like printify which is my print and demand supplier who prints and ships products for me regardless of which print man platform you use you should be able to download monthly invoices that tell you exactly how much they charge you each mon month as well as any subscription fees that they may have charged such as if you use printify premium which saves you 20% or more off of your orders what you can sign up for using the referral link below other expenses that may qualify include mockups that you have purchased to use in your listing thumbnails samples you may have ordered subscription fees to services like everb for product and competitor research or graphic design softwares like K as well as advertising fees and just a heads up my accountant did personally ask me to separate my Etsy fees from my advertising fees so just a heads up there a PO of your bills may also qualify as a write-off so come prepared with the total cost of your rent or mortgage and other monthly bills this applies to your home office expenses to qualify for home office deductions you typically need to meet two criteria first your home office must be used regularly and exclusively for conducting your business or work this means it should be your primary workspace and shouldn't be used for personal activities secondly your home office should be a significant and necessary part of your work or business it should be the place where you manage administrative tasks Maybe meet with your clients or conduct essential work rated activities once you meet these criteria you can potentially deduct expenses like a portion of your rent or mortgage utilities and even maintenance costs be sure to keep accurate records and consult with a tax professional to ensure you're maximizing your eligible deductions while complying with current tax regulations remember that tax laws can change so it's always a good idea to stay updated and consult with a tax expert for the most current information and most personalized advice you can potentially deduct the cost of new equipment purchased for your business like laptops iPads or office chairs keep meticulous records of these expenses and retain your receipts if you use your vehicle for trips to the post office or store to Source supplies for your Etsy business you may qualify for mileage deductions be diligent and tracking these trips as business expenses I personally like to keep track of my mileage using a mileage tracker which you can find in my yearly business planner as well as in my income and expense tracker which I'll link below if your anticipated tax liability or the amount you owe to the IRS at the end of the year exceeds $1,000 it's essential to begin making quarterly tax payments if you expect to owe more than $1,000 to the IRS visit the IRS website to initiate quarterly payments if you don't pay your estimated taxes and owe over $1,000 then you may have to pay a fee for not remitting those payments when I filed my taxes with my tax professional he created a tax Schedule for me so I knew exactly what to pay and when to estimate the taxes he simply took the total amount that I owed to the government the previous year and divided it into four different payments or quarters as this is an estimate what you will make the following year so because of how much you make fluctuates each year on Etsy you may end up owing more than what you paid on your estimated taxes or you maybe do a refund but once again it's really important that you talk to a tax professional so they can assist you with creating your own unique estimated tax Schedule you could track the estimated tax that you owe on paper on a Google doc or Excel spreadsheet or you can use tools like the one that I built in my income and expense tracker preparing your taxes for the previous year can be a really daunting task if you haven't been tracking your finances monthly to simplify this process I highly recommend using a service like QuickBooks or even an Excel or Google spreadsheet in fact I've developed my very own Google spreadsheet tailored to my business needs which you can find in the description box below as a bonus it also includes 100 chat gbt prompts to help you with your tax preparation this year you can also find my brand new small business planner linked below as well where you can track your yearly business goals income and expenses including mileage and PDF form if if you prefer using both methods these tools can help you quickly assess whether your pricing strategy is on point or if adjustments are needed to avoid any unpleasant surprises like thinking you're making more than you actually are however old-fashioned paper and pencil works too or simply crafting your own unique method as long as you're working to keep really detailed records I was also considering giving you a full step-by-step tutorial video on how I use QuickBook self-employed to automatically track my income and expenses and then use that information to file my taxes on Turbo Tax so let me know below if that's something that you're interested in in the future I hope this video has been really helpful for you and has helped alleviate some of the concerns you may have had about filing your taxes for your Etsy business while it can be a straightforward process I still recommend Consulting with a CPA to ensure that you have all the accurate information for your own business thank you so much for watching Until the End please take a moment to like And subscribe for more valuable content in the future and feel free to leave me any questions or comments below up next is a recent video you may want to check out see you all there [Music]