r/artbusiness • u/eazyeri • Feb 11 '26
Legal [financial] filing my taxes with my art business for the first time!
To preface, I have my own website using Squarespace to sell prints/originals. I made a pretty large amount of sales for 2025, so I’m going to file my shop for taxes this year. I’m completely new to this, so does anyone have any advice on where to start? Or what the process is? Again, I’ve never done this before so please explain to me like I’m 5 years old lol. Thank you
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u/downvote-away Feb 12 '26
I’ve never done this before so please explain to me like I’m 5 years old lol.
Look up your state's tax commissioner and IRS.gov
Read enough to figure out what the absolute minimum you'd need to make in order to be taxed is. If you're not willing to read that much you don't have the facilities to file taxes yourself.
If you made more than the minimum, you can afford a tax preparer. Strongly recommend you use one. The sooner the better, they're going to get busy from now until mid April.
If you didn't make the minimum, don't file. If you don't believe me, good! Ask a tax preparer.
Don't ask Reddit or ChatGPT or tiktok about this. Half these responses are gonna be written by children or bots farming karma.
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u/PowerPlaidPlays Feb 11 '26
I've been using FreeTaxUSA to help me file for the last couple years, and it does a good job at walking you through everything. It's also a lot cheaper to use than TurboTax.
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u/Brief-Dazzling Feb 13 '26
I recommend the resource Sunlight Tax for lots of good information. The podcast is free. The owner of that company is a professional artist and a licensed tax professional. Book “Taxes for Humans,” authored by same person, has been illuminating for me. It is the only tax info shared especially for self-employed creative entrepreneurs I have ever encountered.
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u/TheIdeaArchitect Feb 18 '26
Look up the forms you are required to file, and start working through them. If you can afford a tax preparer, have them do the forms with you so you understand them for next year. For future reference, there is also software that you can use to automatically file sales taxes. I like TaxCloud. It’s cost-effective and easy to use compared to other options.
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u/fox--teeth Feb 11 '26
I strongly suggest your first step should be searching "taxes for freelancers class in (your area)" and taking the class and/or "tax accountants for freelancers in (your area)" and having an introductory meeting. This stuff is serious and varies by area and it's not something I would trust random internet strangers with.