Keeping track of accounting (Canada)

[Mike]

I was just wondering, for affiliates what do you do for tax purposes? Do you need a license for running a website. Vendors permt?

Also, what do you guys do to keep track of everything? What methods or software do you use? Thanks

-Mike

[Rosalind Gardner]

Hi Mike,

Don't construe what I'm about to say as legal or accounting advice...

Where I live, you don't need a vendor's permit or business licence to run a home-based business which doesn't have people visiting your place of business.

It may be different where you live, so I'd check into it. But be sure to ask the consultant what experience they have with Internet merchants and/or affiliates. Too, be sure to tell them that as an affiliate marketer that you are, in effect, a commission salesperson.

I personally use Quicken (to my accountant's horror) and an Excel spreadsheet to create an easy at-a-glance picture of where I stand. All in all I like to keep things very, very simple.

Cheers,
Rosalind

[Mike]

Thanks a lot. At my college they use a program called Simply Accounting. So I guess it would be best to get that program instead of Quicken since I will be learning about it in school. I will definately check that out.

-Mike

[A Posse Ad Esse]

[boysbach]

As an accountant or was previously I concur with Rosalind's accountant of horror at Quicken. In the UK it comes on most computers but it isn't the best package around, more complicated to use than some in the UK like sage and not the easiest to work with when auditing. All in all not a good package.

[its_me_shaners]

I'm a canuk as well, right now the checks are coimng to me personally, theyre nothing huge or anything like that (100 bux here 200 there) AT THE MOMENT. But hey i paid for my 5 r olds soccer camp this summer!!But I guess as time rolls on i'm sure incorporating would be a good idea. and then changing my affiliate links to a company name and all the other nonsense.
LOL my goal right now is a mere lil 500 bux a month, then after that i'm sure actually claiming the income would be a good idea
I think it would be great if merchants could just send you cash !!!

[Mike]

[its_me_shaners]

My sig other does partylight candles on the side, she writes off, I think 25% of our home space, (our computer room... aka office ) the internet and I think a few other things as well, car, gas, that sort of thing.
So there are benefits to having a business out of the home.
I did my taxes using quick tax, I'd have to check to be sure about this, but theres a section, when you're declaring income, i think its actually called other., then i think this box pops up and you give details, blah blah blah for it.
I would imagine if you're making huge dollars then an accountant is a good idea. I just think paying an accountant when you're starting out is throwing away good money, there are some good software tax pgms that can help you figure it out.

[boysbach]

You will need to check this out because I am talking from the UK tax position. There are obvious benefits from running a home business and some you can write off as expenses. But you have to be careful that you don't have a room specifically where you do all the work otherwise when you sell it is subject to capital gains tax because the house has moved from residential to business. One piece of advice we give our clients is make sure you use different rooms to work in. Yes your computer might be in a room, but let others use it, and then use the lounge to do paperwork, or the dining table to do paperwork, you get the idea, so you might have a study which lots of homes have these days, but you don't have an office there.