Indie Life March: Otherwise known as the tale of taxes.

For my first Indie Life post I've decided to write about something really enthralling. Taxes. I just finished mine the other day and discovered the government is going to give me magical free money that will fall from the sky into my bank account. My accountant, a.k.a. my brother, explained that's not really how it works, that the government is giving me back my own money that they've been loaning for free with no interest, so tax refunds are actually a horrible thing.

Still. FREE MONEY.

I'll be dumping my free money in my business account to spend on full length novel edits in December (Did you know full book edits cost, like, a thousand dollars? And that's really, like, a lot of money?) minus ten dollars so I can buy this book I want. WHAT? It's a cool book, okay?

I have to admit, this money is a huge boon. Mostly because there was only ninety bucks left in my business account and I was a little bit panicking about how to pay for all the things.

A note on business accounts: I would advise anyone who thinks they might eventually make enough money off this to pay quarterly taxes (for me it's a thousand dollar threshold! Yeah, my day job doesn't pay that great. If you want to know your quarterly taxes threshold, figure out how much you'd have to make on writing for it to be 10% of your income. I think. But seriously, talk to an actual accountant.) to separate out their personal and business accounts. This way when it comes tax time, there's a clear record of what you spent on business-y things versus what was for personal use. And do not EVER use your business account for anything not business-y. 

Plus, this way all your writing income can go to one place and be separate from your day job income so you know to invest it back into your writing and not squander it on, say, really cool books. Not that I would know anything about that.

A note on taxes and the paying thereof: If you make as little money as I do, don't have a brother who is also an accountant, and are all ARGH HOW DO I PAY THESE TAX THINGS, then fear not! I have the answer! Go to turbo tax, select their free tax filling option, and they will walk you through all the steps and do your taxes! For free! Aren't free things the best?

And now this post is over and I'm not sure I said anything brilliant and witty about indie life. So I will leave you with this parting thought. If you could get magical money in your bank account every week, but the price was eating a churro every single day for the rest of your life, would you do it?