It’s the end of the year, what is on your freelancers’ Christmas list? Upgraded computer? New smart phone? Visiting the best design conference? How about paying down your taxes… HO HO HO. I know what you are thinking; “this is Christmas season, why are you talking about Taxes”?
If you have made money this year (and you are ligate), odds are you will be paying on April 15th. So how can you lower the amount of taxes you owe and upgrade your expertise? Invest money in yourself by paying for skill improving items, before the year is up.
Have your taxes professional do a preliminary assessment of your taxes to get a feel for where you will stand on your taxes. You don’t want to be spending money if you are getting money back. If you are looking forward to a return, wait until the New Year to make you charges.
The idea is to pay for items that you need or really want before the end of the year. Here are the items that I will be prepaying in 2010 to pay down my taxes:
1. SMX West: Search Marketing Expo is a conference that has over 60 sessions on topics such as SEO, PPC and landing page optimization. It is a great way to start off the year new insights in marketing, design and networking time. In 2012 it will be in the Bay Area, which means no travel and lodging expenses.
Cost: $1,195
2. Bruce Clay seminar at SMX: Bruce Clay is known as one of the founding fathers of SEO and his seminars are tough to get to and can be expensive. At SMX his team will be putting on a one day seminar, and I am looking forward to picking the brains of the best in SEO.
Cost: $899
3. PPC seminar: Adwords For Success advanced is a seminar put on by Brad Geddes, the only Google certified instructor to teach this class. One of my goals in 2011 is to get Google Adwords Certified and I am hoping this class can help as well as help my client make more sales.
Cost: $550 for both days.
4. Linda.com: I have long been a linda.com user, learning many of my design and programming skills from their only videos. In the past I have paid per month, but will be paying up front, knowing that it is a terrific resource.
Cost: $250
5. Miscellaneous Marketing Resources: Any monthly resources that I feel will be used throughout the year will be prepaid for the year, for example, content generators, article writers and distributors.
Nobody wants to pay for something they won’t receive for months, but be smart with your gross income. Prepay anything that you think that you will need or even like in the coming year. You never know what next year will bring, if you lose a large client or your market takes a down turn, you may not have the opportunity to pay down your taxes.