Warning: Figuring out my taxes as a freelancer after dropping out took me a full week

I mean, I dropped out of my business program two years ago and started doing freelance graphic design. I thought doing my own taxes would be a weekend thing, but it actually took me seven days of sorting through receipts and forms. Anyone else have this kind of shock after starting to work for themselves?

3 comments

3 Comments

william_rivera1mo ago

Tell me about it. I thought the hard part was doing the actual work, not counting it all up for the government. My first year I had a shoebox full of crumpled gas receipts and coffee shop bills, trying to remember what each one was for. That "weekend project" turned into a full time job of its own, complete with panic. The real joke is you finish and just know you messed something up anyway.

jenny_gonzalez1mo ago

Oh man, the shoebox method. Been there. I once tried to write off a whole new phone because I took a single work call on it. The IRS is NOT gonna buy that.

angelamason1mo ago

My accountant told me a story about a client who tried to deduct a new laptop as 100% business use. The guy was a graphic designer, but he also used it for gaming and streaming movies every night. The IRS asked for a full year of internet history logs to prove the business need. They do not play around with that stuff.