Food Bloggers Tax Guide

By Chrystal Mahan

Food bloggers and writers have very confusing tax rules when it comes to expenses and deductions. Are you a legitimate business or merely a hobby? How do you know?

And what about all that free stuff you get from sponsors or in exchange for a review?

After writing “Easy Accounting for the Self-Employed” and starting YUMeating.com I realized there were limited resources available for food bloggers.

Food Bloggers Tax Guide is a simple, easy to understand resource for all food writers. In this guide will discuss the establishing yourself as a real writer in the eyes of the IRS, how to determine whether your food blog is a hobby or a legitimate business, how to keep track of your records and what to keep track of. We'll also discuss what food related items are allowable business expenses.

Running a food blog is a lot of fun and quite rewarding, don't let the hassle of recordkeeping frustrate you. With this quick read you’ll be in food bloggers tax paradise in no time and you can spend more time on cooking and photography and less time stressing about whether those scallops and bacon are tax deductible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chrystal Mahan
• Release date: Oct 21, 2014
• ISBN: 9781502251480

Chrystal Mahan

Chrystal Mahan, author of Easy Accounting for the Self-Employed & Food Bloggers Tax Guide , is the owner of the websites SelfEmployedWriter.com and YUMeating.com, has been working from home for over 10 years. She holds an Associates in Accounting degree, a Bachelors in General Studies degree with majors in Marketing, Business and Accounting, and a Masters degree in Business.

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Food Bloggers Tax Guide

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Food Bloggers Tax Guide

Chrystal Mahan

Published by Chrystal Mahan

Copyright 2013 Chrystal Mahan

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Copyright and License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal use only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is to act as a guide only. It is advice based on personal opinions, experience, and education. It should not be considered legal advice. If you have any questions regarding your taxes you should contact the IRS, your local CPA, or tax attorney.

Cover photo provided by Dreamstime. © Nikola Radovic

Introduction

I’ve written online since the early stages of GeoCities in the late 90s. It wasn’t until 2000 when I actually published my first piece online for pay. While those pieces don’t make much now; I leave them as a reminder of how far I’ve come.

It wasn’t until the launch of Self Employed Writer in 2009 that I actually started filing my taxes as a ‘freelance writer.’ At one time, I even had my own tax website that later merged with SEW. Taxes can be quite a headache for those who don’t quite understand them to begin with. Thankfully, I started to understand and learn more about taxes at age 16.

While working on my MBA, I released Easy Accounting for the Self-Employed to help out a friend who was teaching a self-employed/work from home class at her local college. We