4/23    Let's say I design a web site for my mom's friend who paid me $100
        for the job. I'm fine with paying tax on my extra $100 income as
        my side job. Can I deduct tax for buying a $2000 computer + monitor?
        Do I have to do the LLC thing, and is there anything else I have to
        do to deduct for buying equipments?
        \_ You can't deduct more than you made. But if you make $2K on the side,
           you can deduct $2K.
           \_ I don't think it's quite so simple.  I think you can only
              deduct the fraction of $2k that you've devoted solely to
              your side business.  I.e., you can't deduct your 95% gaming
              machine as a 100% business expense, but you could deduct
              5% of it.  In practice, I don't know how they could possibly
              enforce this, and I could be completely wrong about this:
              what I advise is that you look into this carefully and
              perhaps consult an actual professional.
              \_ They enforce it by auditing you.
                 \_ And how does that work?  "Of course I used this
                    computer 50% for work!"  "Did not!"  "Did too!"
                    \_ 50% maybe.  But if you deduct a 2k expense on
                       a 100 dollar job and you get audited they will
                       tell you you are full of it and make you pay.
                       It's blantent dude.
                       \_ No, you can lose money "consulting" for at least
                          three years before the IRS starts to get riled up.
                          They understand that new businesses often don't make
                          any money for a while.
        \_ My accountant wrote this to me: Expenses related to job are summed
           up, and if the total exceeds 2% of income, the "excess" amount is
           included in "itemized deductions". Also, you can only report the
           "business portion" (generally 60%) for tax purpose. And in the case
           of a computer, it has to be depreciated over 5 years.  So, it may
           not be as useful as you've heard." So I have no idea what the
           last portion of 5 years means...
           \_ it means you can only deduct 20% of the business percentage
              of the computer's cost each year.  So a $2000 computer used
              50% for business, you can only deduct $200.   -tom