Freelance design...the business side

[YNOT]

I've got a few questions to ask any of you who 'freelance' or own a small design business.

As you may or may not know, I work a full-time gig as a Sr. Graphic Designer, but then I also freelance on the side doing automotive related graphic design stuff (www.tmooregraphics.com).

Several years ago I had a registered business name (Art in Motion), license and the whole bit. I was turning under $5000 a year, it was more for fun than a full-time thing...built solely on word of mouth referrals. After taking my current job 7 years ago, I ditched the business because I wanted to concentrate on this new position.

Over the past 7 years, I've still done some side work and counted it as additional income at the end of each year (I'm not looking to screw Uncle Sam) but it's been small stuff for people I've built relationships with over the years and I can't say no to them.

Well, within the past year I've created a web-site and decided to try to pick up some freelance work again, mostly because we need the extra money, but also because I enjoy doing the work.

I guess what I'm most curious about is, do I need to have a business license and registered biz name to be doing this or does it matter as long as I claim all of my income? Is there a set income that warrants having a license and such?

I plan to talk to my accountant within the next month for his opinion, but I wondered what many of you people do with this.

Any light you can shed on how you handle this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks! /emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

www.tmooregraphics.com</font>

[morea]

there are some great articles on Designer Today's website...

www.designertoday.com/tabindex-5/tabId-7/itemid-1789/DesktopDefault.aspx (http://www.designertoday.com/tabindex-5/tabId-7/itemid-1789/DesktopDefault.aspx)

I haven't lost my mind... it's backed up on disk somewhere.

[D-Frag]

As far as I know (and this could very from state to state) you don't need a business license...I don't have a business license. In fact, the only reason why I even filed with the Secretary of State for my business name was so that I could open a business checking account.

Also, I think the limit right now on taxes is something like $600.00, so if you made more then that amount off of one individual or company alone, then they have to send you their tax information for your filing.

http://img15.exs.cx/img15/7863/nufrag2nk6zq.jpg

digitalcamwhore (http://digitalcamwhore.deviantart.com/gallery/)

Thanks to vend3r (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/profile.aspx?f=35&m=97279&p=4762) for the sig

[MD]

I am not 100% sure on this but I don't think you need a business license. If you do any business on the side I think you are legally considered a sole proprietorship as long as you use your name. If you wanted to do business with a name such as YNOT Designs you would have to register the name with your state government. From there you could classify yourself as a sole proprietorship, LLC, or INC. Your state should have all the necessary information on a website along with pdf forms you would need to fill out. Of course laws may be different in your state so check with your accountant.

I wish I had something clever to put here.......

[Jeff Fisher LogoMotives]

I does depend on the local state or city - in Portland the business license fee as a tax. If you have a business - and other businesses are claiming your work as a business expense on their taxes - you had better have your business registered and licensed.

- Jeff

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Jeff Fisher :: Engineer of Creative Identity
Jeff Fisher LogoMotives (http://www.jfisherlogomotives.com)

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Member - HOW Magazine Editorial Advisory Board :: HOW Design Conference Advisory Board

Author - 'The Savvy Designer's Guide to Success: Ideas and tactics for a killer career' - from HOW Design Books.

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