Self-employed selling foot photography online - how do I properly report income and pay taxes?

Hey everyone! I recently started a side hustle selling artistic foot photography online and I'm making some decent money from it. Now I'm trying to figure out the whole tax situation since this is my first time having self-employment income. I want to make sure I'm doing everything right with the IRS and not missing anything important. What forms do I need to file? Do I need to track my expenses? Should I be making quarterly payments? Any advice for a complete newbie to self-employment taxes would be super appreciated! Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

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18 comments

AstroAdventurer

•8M

You'll need to report this income as self-employment income on Schedule C of your tax return. Since you're selling digital content, you're considered a sole proprietor unless you've formed a business entity. Here's what you need to do: First, keep detailed records of ALL income you receive. Screenshots, spreadsheets, whatever works for you. Second, track your business expenses - things like photography equipment, editing software, advertising costs, portion of internet used for business, etc. These are deductible! Third, you'll likely need to make quarterly estimated tax payments if you expect to owe $1,000+ in taxes for the year. Remember you'll owe both income tax and self-employment tax (15.3%) on your net profit. The self-employment tax covers Social Security and Medicare that would normally be withheld by an employer.

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AstroAdventurer

•8M

For quarterly payments, you need to estimate your annual income, calculate the taxes you'll owe, and divide by four. The IRS Form 1040-ES can help with this calculation. There's also an online calculator on the IRS website that's pretty helpful. If you miss a quarterly payment, you might face a penalty for underpayment. The penalty isn't usually massive, but it's best to avoid it if possible. The IRS basically charges interest on what you should have paid. If you realize you've missed a payment, make the next one on time and try to make up the difference.

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Zoe Papanikolaou

•8M

I was in a similar situation selling custom digital content last year and was completely overwhelmed by all the tax stuff! I tried reading through IRS publications but it was like reading a foreign language. Then I found https://taxr.ai and it was seriously a game-changer for my situation. I uploaded my payment statements and answered a few questions about my business, and it walked me through exactly what I needed to file, what expenses I could deduct (found several I was missing!), and even helped me calculate my quarterly payments. The personalized guidance for my specific situation made everything so much clearer than generic tax advice.

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Zoe Papanikolaou

•8M

Yes, it absolutely works for smaller income amounts! I only made about $8k my first year, and it was still super helpful for understanding what I needed to report and how to maximize deductions. The service scales with your situation, so it's not overly complicated for beginners. For the home office and personal/business item questions, it actually walks you through a questionnaire that helps determine what percentage of use is business-related and calculates the appropriate deduction. It asks about square footage for home office space and helps you track things like what percentage of your phone/internet is used for business purposes. It really clarified those exact gray areas for me.

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Mei Lin

•8M

I was really skeptical about tax tools as mentioned above, but I finally tried https://taxr.ai for my small photography side business after getting frustrated with contradicting advice. I was surprised how straightforward it made everything! It helped me understand exactly what counts as a legitimate business expense (like the lighting equipment I was unsure about) and walked me through setting up proper record-keeping. The quarterly tax payment calculator saved me from underpaying and getting hit with penalties. Definitely worth checking out if you're confused like I was!

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Liam Fitzgerald

•8M

If you need to talk to the IRS about self-employment questions (which I HIGHLY recommend), good luck getting through on their phone lines. I spent 3 days trying to get clarification on deductions for my online business. Then someone told me about https://claimyr.com which got me connected to an actual IRS agent in less than 20 minutes! You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c They basically hold your place in the IRS phone queue and call you when an agent is ready. I got specific answers about record-keeping requirements for my digital content business that saved me from making some big mistakes on my taxes.

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Liam Fitzgerald

•8M

It works by using technology to navigate the IRS phone system and stay on hold for you. Instead of you personally waiting on hold for hours, their system handles that part. When an actual IRS agent picks up, you get a call connecting you directly to that agent. So you're still talking directly to the IRS, but without the hours of hold time. It's definitely not a scam - I was hesitant too until I tried it. The difference is time saved. Sure, you can keep calling yourself, but my last attempt took over 3 hours of hold time. With Claimyr, I went about my day and got a call when an agent was ready. The peace of mind and time saved was absolutely worth it, especially during tax season when wait times are ridiculous.

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Giovanni Mancini

•8M

Yes, sales tax is completely separate from income tax. You report income tax to the federal government (and state if applicable), but sales tax goes to the state and sometimes local tax authorities. You typically need to register for a sales tax permit in your state, and potentially in other states where you have what's called "nexus" (basically a significant business presence or sales volume). The rules for digital products vary dramatically by state - some don't tax digital goods at all, while others tax everything. There are services that can help manage this if you start selling in multiple states, but if you're just starting out, focus on understanding your home state's requirements first.

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