Affiliate Marketing on Azoogle and Taxes

As I've just started doing fairly well with Azoogle, I've been getting much more organized in the way that I keep books and things of that nature.

Once I realized I'm going to far surpass the amount necessary to trigger business taxes, I knew I had to find out what the possible tax implications and write-offs are.

So I did a bunch of searching, but to no avail. I did find a lot of sites that say 'advertising' can be deducted for new businesses, but nothing is very specific as to the nature of advertising on the internet.

My question overall is- can I write my online advertising expenses off and are there any other caveats I should be aware of when running this sort of business?

Thanks in advance,
Scott

 

I am not a tax lawyer or expert to any extent, but I believe you can write off all advertising as a business expense.

I think the best way to get a quality answer is through an actual tax lawyer (assuming you are making enough to justify the extra expense).

 

I'm spending about $650/day in advertising, so writing it off would be a huge relief.

 

Yes, advertising is an expense so you can deduct it. Of course you can also deduct domains, hosting, paypal fees, software subscriptions, etc.... All costs of doing business.

 

Sweet! That's great. Now all I have to do is get myself a decent accountant.

 

You can write off so much. GET an accountant/tax guy. They will charge around $300 bucks to do your taxes. Save you time and money.

 

For sanity sake I set up an account that adwords, adsense, and azoogle, all take from and pay. Makes records easier come tax time.

 

Ah, that's a smart idea.

What I'm doing is paying for all advertising with one of my banking cards and then I have Azoogle just pay my business checking. Then, I just pay for the balances as money comes in. The leftover stays in the account.

 

I would definitely separate your business and personal accounts.

 

They're separate but I can manage them from the same area.

 

I am getting into this boat now...decisions, decisions....thinking about doing it inc. in another country though.

 

gl with offshore banking. You can be hit with tax evasion and the us gov taxes the money you make outside us.

 

don't freakin inc.... do some research on business types. most likely you don't need to do anything except get a business license if you are in the US... LLC, C and S Corps are for business that want to release liability and ease transfer of ownership.

 

Just get a credit card that you make all business expenses on, PPC, domains, landing pages, content, EVERYTHING. Then come tax time, just deduct everything on that credit card + everything you spent in Paypal.

 

You can write off all sorts of things. Bank fee's, phone bills, internet service, new computers, office chairs, desk's, gas (for business trips), % of your house paymaynt/rent vs space of your office.

Get a good accountant and you will save alot of cash!

 

Actually, you save ALOT of taxes by incorporating. Talk to an accountant!

I have an S-Corp and it has saved me so much.

 

Offshore does not work if you you still work in the USA. I have had several friends get hit big time (one might be about to do 20 years) due to offshore banking. There are ways to do it but its risky. IF you don't want to pay taxes, move to costa rica!

 

Man, I live in southern California, USA and I'm worried about how much I'm going to get dinged when I have to actually do my taxes. I'm actually going to be reinvesting almost all of it into advertising but none the less, does anyone know how much should be set aside to be safe when the tax man cometh?

 

No, the majority of things you can write off as a corp you can write off as a sole proprietor. the s-corp mostly allows you to distribute shares of ownership and the business is not taxed on its' profits, but the shareholders are.

 

It depends on what country you live in..

I live in Canada, and I'm guessing you live in the US, so I can't help ya. Sorry.

Edit: Just looked at your location, haha.