City Tax for home artists? Belmont (Oakland, San Mateo: how much, incomes, taxes)

[lizzylo]

Hello everyone...I hope someone can help me out here because Im totally lost! I just moved out to CA this year and have been living in Belmont since jan working from the home as an artist...paintings, freelance, and I also sell my prints online as well. I thought I was all set when I got my CA sellers permit~ give them the taxes I collect from CA once a year, got it. Now I get another paper in the mail saying I owe the city of Belmont taxes on my humble income as well. I called the office to check and see if people like myself were exempt, but the people were totally unhelpful or willing to listen~ and could not even give me an idea of what kind of a bill I could be paying

I read on the forums another person say something about
"creative artists exemption" for the first $500,000? Am I upset over nothing and I will be exempt and the people in the office were just being jerks? Any other people that work from the home making humble incomes that have to pay a city tax? Im trying to figure out how much they are going to suck out of me so I know if I can afford this...

Last question, do other cities like San Mateo make you pay taxes on home buisness like this? Forgive me, I moved here from Florida and everything was a bit lax there...

thank you!!

[Luke9686]

I would talk to an accountant. Welcome to California.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by lizzylo

Hello everyone...I hope someone can help me out here because Im totally lost! I just moved out to CA this year and have been living in Belmont since jan working from the home as an artist...paintings, freelance, and I also sell my prints online as well. I thought I was all set when I got my CA sellers permit~ give them the taxes I collect from CA once a year, got it. Now I get another paper in the mail saying I owe the city of Belmont taxes on my humble income as well. I called the office to check and see if people like myself were exempt, but the people were totally unhelpful or willing to listen~ and could not even give me an idea of what kind of a bill I could be paying

I read on the forums another person say something about
"creative artists exemption" for the first $500,000? Am I upset over nothing and I will be exempt and the people in the office were just being jerks? Any other people that work from the home making humble incomes that have to pay a city tax? Im trying to figure out how much they are going to suck out of me so I know if I can afford this...

Last question, do other cities like San Mateo make you pay taxes on home buisness like this? Forgive me, I moved here from Florida and everything was a bit lax there...

thank you!!

Very possibly because you sell from your home, and not taking your painting somewhere else to a gallery, they could consider you a storefront. Depending on your zoning, they can get picky about it.

When we opened our janitorial business out of our home in Oakland, we had to pay to get an "zoning exception" to run out of our home. We also have to pay a "business tax/Licensing fee" that looks really scary but ends up being 60 bucks a year. If we had contracts in Oakland, they'd want a piece of that, but we don't.

If their paperwork is anything like Oakland's, it will scare the fertilizer out of you. An accountant would be very helpful for this....

[lizzylo]

Thanks for the feedback guys I do have an accountant so I guess I'll have to give her a ring :/ ugh fun times