Taxes and more
Feeling like this every time somebody mentions taxes and other business stuff, when you really just want to focus on being creative? Well I’m here to help you a little today!
Photo from Pexels.com
Disclaimer: Please don’t make any decicions based on this article. Always make sure to talk to a professional tax consultant first and get their professional help and opinion. This article is specifically tailored to the Austria, since that’s where my business is registered.
One more note before we dive deep into taxes: If you’re wanting to learn more about Photoshop and Retouching, Lightroom and more check out my Masterclasses! I have full online Masterclasses in German & English and a One on One Masterclass available in both German and English focused on retouching in Photoshop.
The business aspect of photography is often overlooked, nobody talks about it and everybody stresses out about it once they’re confronted with it. So today we’re going to talk about some basics today, so you can prepare yourself and not feel as overwhelmed. Because in reality taxes aren’t rocket science if you got the basics down and the right person helping you.
The business side of photography is just as important as the creative side, because if you want to create a sustainable income for yourself you need to view your business as a business and not as a creative hobby.
So let’s start at the beginning. Once you’ve decided that you want to make money from photography you need to register your business at the WKO. Registering your business is free and you don’t need any form of proof that you are a (good) photographer.
One you’ve registered your business you have to pay a WKO fee annually. In 2019 that was €270, in 2020 it was free due to the Covid situation.
Another expense you can’t get around is a professional tax consultant. This person assists you wehn preparing for your tax report, they do the tax report for you and they help you with any tax/business related questions. Depending on who you work with, this can be €400-€900 per year, so make sure you save up that amount over the year.
So now you’ve registered your business and found a tax consultant. Your working through out 2021 and now you have to keep track of your earnings and your expenses.
For every paid shoot you do you need to send out an invoice to your client. Here’s an example of what your invoice could look like. If you need any help contact your tax consultant as always.
About those 20% taxes: if you’re a small business you don’t necessarily need to pay/charge those taxes. If you mostly work with other businesses though, and not with private clients, this can be benefical for both of you. Again, talk to your tax consultant about that. They can also give you the exact terms you need to put on your invoice.
This next thing depends on your tax consultant and how they handle things, but I also have an excel list of all my earnings and expenses every year. In this list I write down the date of the shoot, how moch money I made and what the service was. I have the same thing for my expenses, making sure that I also keep all of my bills from expenses in a folder for proof.
Another thing I always do it to write down all the drives I did connected to my business. So let’s say I live in Linz and have a shoot in Vienna. I write down the time I left, the time I arrive in Vienna, how long it took me to get there and how many kilometers I drove. These things can also be subtracted from the total amount of money you made in a year and potentially lower your taxes.
Speaking of lowering your taxes, let me explain something that might calm you down a little bit. Not every business has to pay taxes right away. Currently one of the marks is if you make €11.000 per year. Let’s look at an example of how that could look like:
So as you can see, you can earn more than €11.000 per year and still be below the tax-paying mark. As far as I know you can earn up to €17.500 with all shoots/invoices together before you have to pay taxes. For exact marks and regulations make sure to talk to your tax consultant.
Those are the basics of taxes and how to prepare your business for it explained. As I said please don’t make any decisions based on this article, always talk to a professional first. I’m just trying to help you get ahead of your game and avoid the comfusion :)