Those who do jobs only on side

I have a few questions for those that do installs strictly on the side.. I have a regular full time job (work in an I.T. dept) and do remote starter installs mainly on Saturday's out of my garage..

As of right now I don't charge sales tax, don't have a "business", and don't have any type of insurance.. All my installs are word of mouth as of right now..

In the near future I want to start advertising but figured I should probably get things going legally first.. So does this mean to start some kind of "business" and what not?

What have others done? For people who are in a similar situation.. Did you create a business name for yourself? Charge sales tax? Get insurance?

Thanks!

Whe I first started the business I was in the same boat as you with doing the side jobs and weekend work. I registered my business along with getting a federal & provincial ( State in your case ) sales tax number. I registered my business name first to give my business an identity as well as this give your customer's a referral name to give to other people, sounds more professional as well. Not too professional if your referred to by people as John Doe's Place down the street .

I never got insurance until I opened up my own shop, but it's just you and it would be very expensive if you were to get installer's insurance for yourself. I would just be extra careful with customer's vehicles. I kjnow acccidents happen, but they only happenn once and you learn from them the hard way.

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Jeff
Velocity Custom Home Theater
Mobile Audio/Video Specialist
Morden, Manitoba CANADA

Exactly... just get a sales tax id number from the state, register a name with the state. The insurance part is up to you. If you plan on keeping peoples vehicles over night I highly recomend garage keepers insurance. Not to spendy, but it can cover your butt on a lot of things. Some people just bring their cars in for the fact that they have dings / scratches and such and WILL blame you for it. trust me on that one. those are the ones that will try to sue ya. they wont win, but it costs time and money to prove your right. As far as liability goes talk with your home or car insurance guy, when I first started, mine set me up real cheap, as long as I didn't do anything but rs alarms and stereos.. no mechanical at all..

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Tire Proz Stillwater Mn
High End Restyling and Comlete Repair

How about tax? What does everyone do so they don't show a high income?

hi

pay cash for grocery gas etc dont put money in bank.  Govt cant say how cheap you live your life your day job paycheck will be your savings

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good luck
kirk

I'm in NJ, here you need to register your trade name with the county (50.00). Apply for a sales tax ID from the state (no charge here). I found that most places give you a much better price on the products if you have a tax ID to show that you really are a business, even if it is part time. Most of my install are done onsite, so garage insurance was not an issue, hooking up something wrong and damaging the vehicle is a different story (be carefull!!) Now for the taxes, if the customer dosen't want a receipt you can show that you sold just the unit without installation, but you do need to show something. If you purchase a lot of stuff under your tax ID and show no sales....it looks kind of fishy!

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Ed

I set up with the state as a sole proprietorship and got my retail and consumer use tax id (same number deifferent prefix). This allowed me to set up accounts with distributors.  I work at home and for the used car dealership, but don't carry insurance, and am just really careful. I didn't trademark my name because it cost a lot, and the name is registered with your tax id.  I don't make enough to worry about a high income filing, but I also don't file any business write-offs because I don't want to be audited. I tend to pay more in consumer use tax than retail because most of my sales are resold by the dealership and I don't charge tax on it.  Just keep really good records.

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Good Luck!
-Thad