How to do taxes as a furry artist?

[Driftwood]

Not sure if this is the right place to ask but I need help!

I don’t know where to start when it comes to doing taxes as a freelance/commission artist.

Everything that I’ve read seems to assume that I work for someone under a contract like a business (I don’t) or that I make a lot of money (I don’t make the amount they seem to be thinking). The people who commission me don’t give me forms for taxes like most sites think they do.

 Obviously art is more than a hobby for me so I should do taxes, but I have no idea what to actually do as a furry artist. I want to be able to do this myself instead of going to an accountant or whatever.

 Thank you !

[Rendrassa]

I'm probably not doing it 100% properly myself, but the IRS hasn't come down on me, so I'll give my experience. I mostly use PayPal, which allows me to easily track my business income as invoices and send it as an exported report straight onto my taxes as an attachment. I get a few dollars straight to my bank account through commiss.io that I add to my total income (which my bank records already make note of.)

[Aehdncl]

Hey! I'm going to assume you live in the US!

Note: I am not a tax accountant, but this is what I've figured.

Keep track of all money you earn from comms and through where if you take payment from multiple sources.

IRS guidelines show that any supplemental income over 600 must be reported as of this tax year (2023).

If you accept payment through PayPal and receive >600 in 2023, you must give them your SSN and legal name so they can file Form 1099-NEC regarding your income to the IRS. You will receive a copy of this form in your email. It will show the total amount earned in 2023. If you accept payment through multiple outlets, you may receive multiple 1099s. Expect to see these by 1/31/24. Save these for your own records! Ideally, you submit these when filing taxes, but it's possible to do so without them.

At the end of the day, the IRS just cares that you're reporting all of your income earned.