Make money/Register your blog as a business?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by BeersandBeans on May 25, 2010 at 1:07pm

I don't think you have to register your blog, but you could if you wanted. I have not registered my blog because of the costs associated with doing that. If you were blogging and making money off it you would need to pay taxes on it if you make over $600/yr from each company that pays you (different ad companies for example). A lot of bloggers talk about how much money they make and how everyone else can do the same but they have to pay taxes on their earnings because the IRS will google you if you try to stiff them. Once they find you are making money on the site, I imagine it won't be pretty if your numbers on the tax returns don't make sense. However, if you are earning money by your travel blog, the nice thing is that you can write off pretty much everything associated with your travels - airfare, hotels, activities, etc, etc. You should also be allowed to write off your food/tips but I have heard that can turn into a grey area sometimes. You should be able to write off everything as long as you are blogging about it and producing income that way. Writing off everything will lower your "income" and make the tax you pay to the IRS much less. I doubt you can write off clothes, etc because you can't write that stuff off with other jobs unless it is a uniform (like a nurse, etc). I believe you have 2 years to start a business, write stuff off, and not make any real money at it. So that should give you a bit of time to get started if you wanted. As for a trademark - again I think that is totally up to you. If you are serious about your blog and making money on it, then you should probably register it and trademark it to protect yourself and your blogs name in the future.

Permalink Reply by Jody Halsted on May 25, 2010 at 4:23pm

I trademarked my site this year. My previous name had been used by other blogs in various ways I hadn't even dreamed of and I saw my page rank and income go down (not to mention being linked to the wrong site in some online interviews!). So I highly recommend trademarking your name sooner rather than later- just from personal experience.

Permalink Reply by marta @ ATravelAroundtheworld on June 1, 2010 at 2:15am

thanks for the replies really thankful!! Interesting to know that you don't need to register it if you get under $600/pyr per company. And thanks for the tips about writing off stuff. We haven't turn into professional bloggers but it's something we are taking in account but have no idea where to get information over here to get the full picture for this new professional role. Anyone know if that's the same over the UK or there are different regulations?
cheers

Permalink Reply by Josh on June 8, 2010 at 3:41am

Only an accountant can answer that question accurately. :)

In the US you can do business under your own name/SS# as a sole proprietorship. You can't write off food/drinks for yourself, but only when buying for others as part of doing business. (An accountant could give specific details.)

I was told not to write off travel expenses, though there are some exceptions. (Transportation to and from conferences, but not portions of the trip outside of the conference, etc.)