Do I need a tax ID # for my wedding photography business in Colorado?

Question

I am starting a small photography business, mostly for weddings. I don't have a clue what I need to do to get this business legally started. Do I need a license, and tax id #? What about insurance? Please help!!!

Answer 1

GO TO THE DIVISION OF COROPERATION IN YOUR TOWN

YOU CAN GET LEGEL BUY PAYING FOR YOUR COMPANY NAME YOU NEED TO FILE AS PROFIT CORPERTION GO ONLINE FOR YOU TAX ID #

THEY WILL GIVE YOU THE INFO ONCE YOU REGISTER THE COST IS  SOMETHING LIKE $60-$90 DOLLARS FOR THIS

BUT IF YOU GET A LLC IT COST $125 TO $170 THIS WILL PROTECT YOUR PERSON ACCETS IF YOU GET SUED THEY CAN ONLY COME AFTER THE BUSSINESS NOT YOU PERSONAL ITEMS OF IF YOU WANT TO BE CHEAP GET A FICTTATIOUS NAME BUT ANY BODY CAN YOU THE SAME NAME FOR THERE COMPANY IF YOU GET LLC OR PROFIT CO PAPERS THE NAME IS YOUR AND YOU HAVE TO RENEW ONCE A YEAR DONT FOR GET TO PAY TAXES BUT GET A GOOD TAX PERSON AND THE FILM,CAMERS,,AND PROPS CAN BE TAX DEDUCTIABLE KEEP RECEIPTS

Answer 2

If you are working alone - sole proprietor - you do not need a tax id - you can report your business income on a schedule C on a 1040 tax form.

I have a few small businesses, I always register them as a LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY (LLC), an LLC offers some legal protection for your personal property should someone sue but you can still file company taxes on your own income tax form.

LLC defined

A company in which the members and managers are not liable for a debt or obligation of the company.

Start at the first link below, locate the header "Form a new..." - and click on Limited Liability Company to begin the process of forming an LLC - The cost in CO is $50 and you can do everything on line -

you still don't need a tax ID but you can get one if you like at the irs.gov website, the number is called an EIN, you can get one on line.  One nice thing about a sep. business ID is establishing a bank account and credit line/card, the debt doesn't show on your personal credit

I suggest you get liability insurance.  I put a link below (second link), I used the free service to find a business insurance company and ended up with a great one.

I checked the CO web portal, they show a list of businesses that need a license, photography is not one of them.  (last link below)  It doesn't look like you need to charge sales tax for your photos.

Good luck!  PS - in the LLC process you need to enter a company name, if you don't already have a URL you should try to find a name for which you can also register a web domain -

my personal blog is wylisa.com -  you can go to that blog and find "dotster" under "my go to companies" on the right side of the blog, click on that link and you can search for available domains, I find Dotster is one of the best priced registration companies and they are not hard to work with like some.

whew - hope that helps - good luck to you!