One thing nobody's mentioned yet is that having a single LLC for multiple business activities might affect your liability protection. The whole point of an LLC is to protect your personal assets, but if one of your businesses gets sued, potentially all the assets in that LLC could be at risk. For example, if your DJ equipment rental business has an accident where someone gets hurt, and you get sued, the profits and assets from your graphic design business could potentially be reached in that lawsuit since they're in the same LLC. Sometimes it makes sense to have separate LLCs for higher-risk activities (like rentals) versus lower-risk ones (like design work). Might be worth talking to a business attorney about this aspect.

I handle my side hustles (lawn care, handyman work, and custom woodworking) as separate DBAs under one LLC. Its way simpler for taxes but I still know which business is making money. Just make sure you keep good records for each business seperately. I use different credit cards for each one to make it easy. The bank lets you have multiple business debit cards with different names but same account. My accountant said this is fine as long as I track everythng right. Never had problems with the IRS doing it this way for 4 years now.

The easiest solution is to check the bank's website. Most banks list their EIN in their disclosures or about section. I just had this same issue with Capital One and found their EIN on their corporate info page in like 2 minutes. If that doesn't work, another trick is to Google "[bank name] EIN" - lots of tax sites have databases of common financial institutions and their tax IDs.

Does anyone know if the location of the EIN changed on 1099-INTs this year? I'm looking at mine from last year (different bank) and the EIN is in Box 3, but this year's form doesn't even have that box! The whole layout seems different.

Something nobody mentioned yet - be careful about separating personal and business expenses if you're using the same devices. Like if you're using your phone for pics and then personal use too. I got audited last year for my online business and had to prove what percentage was actually business use vs personal. Keep a log of time spent using devices for business!

Just make sure you're putting aside enough for taxes! I didn't my first year selling online content and got hit with a HUGE tax bill plus penalties. A good rule is save 25-30% of everything you make for taxes if you're not doing quarterly payments.

Don't overlook setting up a separate business checking account for your 1099 income! This was the best advice I got when starting contract work. Run ALL business income and expenses through this account only - it makes tracking so much easier come tax time. Also, look into getting an EIN from the IRS (it's free) instead of using your SSN for contracts. Helps with identity protection and looks more professional.

Has anyone tried using QuickBooks Self-Employed for tracking 1099 income? My friend recommended it but not sure if it's worth the subscription cost.

Make sure you're actually properly registered for a sales tax permit before you start collecting! I made the mistake of fixing my Shopify settings to collect sales tax before I had the proper registrations, and that caused even more problems. The order should be: 1. Figure out where you have nexus 2. Register for sales tax permits in those states 3. Set up Shopify to collect correctly 4. File and remit on schedule Some states will actually consider it illegal to collect sales tax without a permit (weird but true). Also, don't forget to account for product exemptions - some products are taxed differently depending on the state.

Don't forget to check if you're storing inventory in fulfillment centers! If you're using Shopify Fulfillment Network or any other 3rd party fulfillment, you likely have physical nexus in those states regardless of your sales volume. That's what burned me. I had inventory in 5 states through a fulfillment network and had nexus in all of them even though my sales were low.