Sultana

I teach and perform belly dance. I'm not new to performance, but I've been teaching only a few months. I'm rather surprised at how relatively lucrative it is--which explains a lot about how newbie dancers take 6 months of classes then decide to hang their own shingle, grr!

Anyways, I've been wondering if the financial benefits of owning a small business would out weigh the headache of taxes. I've resisted starting a business previously because I wasn't really making much money, even though the tax write-offs would be nice.

Folks always tell me that i'd get great tax write-offs on the classes that I take, the trips I take that involve classes (including Egypt last year), the costumes, music I buy, and percentages of my house, computer, car, etc. However, the way I see it, I'd be getting a write off on money that I'm paying, right? If I wasn't paying it at all (assuming I'm not making so much that I am legally required to report it and pay taxes--guess I should find out what that dollar amount is), then I am keeping it all. Because you have to report a profit in the first what, two years? Five years?

Or am I looking at it wrong, and I should be seeing it as a tax write-off for my (substantially greater) day job income? But that will only benefit me monetarily until I have to report a profit, of which they take a tax bite.

I suspect my understanding is faulty, can you guys help me out here please?

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"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath.
At night, the ice weasels come." -

Matt Groening

My goal? To fulfill my potential.