If you earn an income from your blog, you’ll have to claim that on your taxes. (In the US, that means if you earn more than $400 from your blog, you should include it on your taxes.) The best way to keep track of everything relating to blogging taxes is in a spreadsheet. You know me, I’m an Engineer and I love spreadsheets. Formulas and summary tables and visibly displayed data, oh my! So because I’m so awesome, I decided to provide my lovely readers with a Blogging Income and Expenses workbook to use in keeping track of your own blog’s data.
General Tips for Blogging Taxes
- Unless you’re very familiar with the tax code, it is a good idea to go ahead and go to a tax preparer. I used to do our own taxes with the at-home software (it seems easy enough, answer a bunch of questions, fill in the numbers from your paperwork, done), but I recently started going to a professional and found out I had been making mistakes and reporting incorrectly. You will want to track your income and expenses data in a lovely spreadsheet and provide it to your tax preparer.
- Keep track of everything in a way that you can easily access it as backup documentation. You can keep your blog income and expenses spreadsheet on your computer or on the cloud, and keep any paper receipts in the same envelope. You may also wish to flag emails with a particular label for easy searching.
Tips for Tracking Blogging Income
- Keep track of all your projects as you are working on them. That way you will be able to see if something is still waiting to be paid out so you can contact the company representative after some time has passed.
- You want to record details about the company you are working with as well as the project itself, so you can refer back to this information later.
- It is helpful to track categories (i.e. Sponsored Posts, Banner Advertising, Affiliate Sales, Product Reviews) so you can see at the end of the year what your biggest sources were (and also see the time-wasters).
Tips for Tracking Blogging Expenses
- Many blogging expenses can be used as deductions on your tax return, so you want to track everything you buy for your blog.
- You will want to track categories here as well (i.e. Hosting, Design, Conferences, Advertising) to get an idea of where you spend the most.
- You may also want to include notes or a detailed description of the purchase so you can know when a renewal is upcoming (if it is an annual subscription for example)
Examples of expenses that can be deducted on your taxes
- Hosting and domain name purchases
- Blog design – such as theme purchases or custom design packages
- Advertising – yes you can deduct marketing expenses for your business
- Blogging-related travel – such as for conventions and conferences, as well as the conference fee
- Extras like plugins and subscriptions that help your blog function
- Office supplies – did you purchase a new camera to take Pinterest-worthy photos?
- Home office – if you have a home office you use for your business, you can deduct the square footage
As you can see, the deductions can get complicated so it is definitely best to have a professional help you take care of your taxes.
So like I said, I love spreadsheets. I took the file I’ve been using to track my own blogging income and expenses and modified it to share with you, my lovely readers.
Grab your Blog Income and Expenses Workbook Now!
Join my list and we will send you this Blog Income and Expenses Workbook right away!
Enjoy, and I hope it works well for you. Let me know if you have any issues. Thank you for joining my tribe if you enjoy this free download.
P.S. If you’re anything like me, you like to work on various devices, at home, at work, on the go, when you have a few minutes. I like to do everything using Google Drive Sheets, and you can do the same! Just upload this file to your Google Drive, and then right-click on the file, go to open with and select Google Sheets. Like so:
Grab your Blog Income and Expenses Workbook Now!
Join my list and we will send you this Blog Income and Expenses Workbook right away!
Cathy Lawdanski says
Excellent post. I have pinned it to my Blogging Board. I am a new Blogger and want to do things correctly from the beginning. Love your re-design.
Julie says
Thanks Cathy :) The new design should be up later this weekend. It will replace the roses :)
Erin @ Stay At Home Yogi says
Pinning this for later! Hope to get to this level someday! ;)
Tiffany @ A Touch of Grace says
This is great! I don’t track my blogging expenses as well as I should.
Thanks for sharing at the Sine Blog Hop!
Julie says
Hope you find this useful and it helps you keep track of everything better :) Thanks Tiffany!
Jennifer | The Deliberate Mom says
This is great – and so important! I track mine in my blog planner but I really should go digital with it.
Thanks for sharing (and for linking up to the #SHINEbloghop).
Wishing you a lovely day.
xoxo
Julie says
I use too many different devices so I like having it on the cloud and typing rather than writing it out, but there is something special about having a paper planner and having everything tangible. Whatever works best :) Thanks Jennifer!
You Baby Me Mummy says
Have downloaded it, fab :) Lots of great tips here. Thanks for linking up to #TheList x
Julie says
Thanks Aby :) Happy to hear you found this useful and grabbed your copy :)
Kelli {A Deeper Joy} says
Great tips! I will say though…technically, you are required to report ALL income, regardless of the amount.
Julie says
OH yes, definitely if you’re filing you have to include all income. But there are thresholds where you don’t even have to file, or if it is considered a hobby instead of self-employment.
A Cornish Mum says
Sure this will come in handy for lots of people lovely of you to share :) Thanks for linking up to #PicknMix
Stevie x
Rebecca says
Always great to start the year organized. And it makes it so much easier at tax time to pull the information together. Thanks for sharing.
Julie says
Thanks Rebecca :) yes, definitely easier to have been keeping the records all year long :)
jeremy@thirstydaddy says
This is my first year blogging and I’ve been wondering if I’ve made enough to include it on my taxes. Does the financial value of free products and trips count as income? That would make a big difference for me
Julie says
I’ve heard that it does count so I’ve been tracking the value of products received separately so I can present both totals to my tax preparer.
Jules Ruud says
This is a great resource. Now to make a couple of bucks off this old blog thing so I can use these! Thank you for sharing at #mommymeetupmondays.
Julie says
Thanks Jules :) And yea, best of luck with making a couple of bucks. It certainly isn’t as easy as some “start your money making blog now” posts make you think, huh?
jen says
Thank you so much for this!! I have been stressing about this exact thing. I just started blogging and am not currently making any money, however I plan on it. So I wanted information on taxes, what to claim, how to keep track! I found you on the Small Victories Sunday Linkups!
Julie says
Thanks Jen, glad you found this helpful! It is great to start keeping track early on so it doesn’t get overwhelming.
Amber says
I just miss the cut off. This year I’m hoping to grow my blog though so this will come in handy. Thank you!
Julie says
Thanks Amber :) Good luck growing your blog this year, hope you meet your goals :)
Blogging Mummy says
This is a great post for people just starting out or others who are trying to be more organised, like me ha ha! Thank you for linking up with #anythinggoes over at Blogging Mummy
Something Crunchy Mummy says
Great post. Thanks for linking up to #justanotherlinky xx
Katelyn Fagan says
Great tips! The thing I didn’t realize when I first started blogging was that I needed to record MILES I drove. And that I could totally count trips to the store when the trip was so I could buy X product for a blog post. The miles add up and you get to deduct like $.55/mile so it is worth it to track even the small trips around town. I will have to check out your sheet and see if I like it.
Julie says
I didn’t even think about trips to the grocery store for blog post items. Hmm well the workbook I have doesn’t have a section to track mileage so I might need to add to it.
Brandyn says
Amazing tips!! I have been doing a lot of searching for just how to go about tracking my blogging stuff for taxes and this broke it down in the most easy-to-understand way I’ve found yet! Downloading the workbook now!
Thank you for sharing with us at #MommyMeeutpMondays!
Julie says
Thanks, Brandyn :) I’m so happy you found this information so helpful! Your comment made my day :)
Linda at Mixed Kreations says
Thanks for this info. it will come in handy since I am starting to make a little from my blog, and need to start keeping track of everything. Pinning! Thanks!
Julie says
Thanks, Linda. It is always a good idea to get started tracking early in the year so you don’t get bogged down with months of records later on. Thanks for pinning, let me know if you end up downloading and using this file :)
Dee @Cupcakes&Crowbars says
This is so timely! So many of us live in “I’ll get to that” as far as finding a method to keep track of tax stuff – and likely miss a ton of deductions due to lack of organization. Thank you for sharing!
Julie says
You’re so right about the “I’ll get to that later” mentality, Dee, but then things get so complicated later when we try to do everything at once. Glad you enjoyed the post and hope you find the file useful.
Jessica says
I didn’t realize how many things could be deducted! I haven’t really monetized my blog yet but I’ll be tracking everything so I can have it ready for when I do. Thanks!
Julie says
That’s a good idea Jessica :) It is always good to track details anyway, even if at the end of the year to see how you did with your blog budgeting too.
Audrey says
I am just starting to monetize my blog this year, so I need to track all of this. Thanks for making it easy.
And I love a good spreadsheet too.
Julie says
Yay for spreadsheet love! Good luck with the monetization goals and hope you find this useful :)
leilani says
What a thorough and helpful resource! I just looooove tallying up those deductions. :) Thanks for the tax tips!
Julie says
Thanks! Oh yes, deductions are awesome!
Valerie@Occasionally Crafty says
Gah- taxes time! For once I actually made a decent amount of money but since it was a first I didn’t have a system set up and kind of rigged it as I went along. This year I’ll be all set thanks to you :)
Julie says
Glad you found this helpful and can use it going forward :) If your system for 2015 isn’t organized to your liking you can always plug in your records to this workbook to have it all in one place if you need :)
Jules Furness says
Good advice. I have been really careful in my recording this year as last tax year I had to spend for ever last minute trying to compile it all together! I am trying to keep a record of mileage this time too
Julie says
Oh yea, it definitely can get complicated if you do a lot of driving for your blog. Glad you have been careful in keeping all the records :)
Leanne@crestingthehill says
this is all such helpful information Julie – I’m pinning it for future reference (if my blog ever makes enough money to put it beyond “hobby” status with the tax office!) thanks for sharing with us on our #OverTheMoon link up ~ Leanne :)
Julie says
If you file taxes at all for other family income though, you pretty much have to include all income sources. So might as well track them and list deductions heh. Thanks for pinning!
April says
These are awesome tips!! I don’t earn an income for my blog, but have been recently considering my own domain and such. This has given me some things to think about :)
Julie says
Thanks April :) Glad to give you some things to think about if you decide to switch to self hosted.
Antionette Blake says
This is great, and I have a post as well but will use both because I just got my postcard from the IRS to file my business A.BlakeEnterprises expenses.
Julie says
Ah so you have a full-fledged business and have to file quarterly?
Jamie | Makeup Life and Love says
OMG this is seriously so helpful! Totally bookmarking this page! Thanks for sharing!
Julie says
Thanks Jamie, glad to share helpful information :)
Krista says
Thanks for the good information and tips.
Julie says
Thanks Krista :)
Stacie says
Thanks! This is a great post. I really need to keep better track of everything that has to do with my blog.
Julie says
Thanks Stacie :) I’m not organized in all (most) things, but at least I’m organized in blogging heh.