THE BUSINESS OF BEING A POET

A funny question came to me the other day, and when it happened, it never really dawned on me until then that some poets didn't purchase a business license, especially if you self-published.

Now, not everyone needs to do this, and there are pros and cons to any business decision, but what did occur to me is that anyone who buys a computer to write their poetry on, or uses space in their home to write, or goes to conventions, or perhaps took a trip somewhere and wrote poetry or spoke at an event locally, or met with another group of poets - is letting a lot of deductions slip through their fingers, and thousands of dollars worth of write-offs which can lead to lovely refunds at the end of the year, for doing what you already do.

Now I will start this article with I am not a lawyer or tax consultant, but I do know smart business sense, and as an accountant with a designation, I know what expenses I track and deduct within the rights of business and provincial laws.  And it is my guess that every province or state has a slew of deductions that if you were set up as a business, you could deduct and claim against any income, or write-off as a loss.

So I would contact whoever currently files your taxes for you, and tell them that you are going to purchase a business license (average cost is $60 for 5 years), and are going to start operating as a sole proprietorship business for your writing and book production. 

Now comments such as - "You have to make money in order to write stuff off against the business - that's not true - 'you have to have the intention of making money' which I am assuming you do, regardless of whether you make a bucket full of it or not is another thing, I'm sure you hope you make money at it. 

Even if you don't have the intention of making money and do it just for the craft and joy of it and don't want the money for yourself, how about having the intention to make money, and donating it to a charity.  Now that's not a bad thing, and doesn't degrade the value of writing or creating just because the inspiration hits.

Then you can start to deduct all sorts of things such as:

- Paper supplies, computer, printer ink, stamps for contest mailings, books for learning, eating out at a poetry event, traveling to a poetry event - car maintenance and gas, advertising and promotion for your book, publication and printing of your books, website access for research, membership fees to poetry or business organizations, magazine subscriptions, a percent of your home if you have an office environment you use for writing or book publishing - and this can include hydro, mortgage, rent, taxes, and so much more.

Even if you don't make money but have a whole bunch of write-offs, if you file combined with your spouse it will deduct from the gross income of both of you.

By implementing this one idea, not only could you write off your CFP membership, but it will have paid for itself many years to come.