Michelle Loretta is a consultant for wedding and event professionals and writes daily for the Sage Wedding Pros’ business blog. She blends her past as an accounting nerd, sales vixen, and stationery entrepreneur to help photographers better their businesses.

If you have second shooters or are considering hiring contractors to assist you on photo shoots, there is one important tax form you’ll need to supply them with this January 2013. It is form 1099-MISC. This isn’t a new form, but the IRS is being a lot more diligent about ensuring that contractors are reporting income.

Here’s what you need to know regarding the 1099:

1) You’ll need your contractor’s vital information (name, address, social security number or tax ID) before filling out the 1099. You can get this from them any way you want but the IRS’ W9 form gives you the ability to get the info from them in a systematic way. It also shows your contractors that you will be filing 1099s for them in the off-chance they were hoping to illegally not state the payments you made to them. (Note: The W9 is NOT a legal requirement and you do not need to send it to the IRS.)

2) The IRS 1099-MISC form is one that you have to fill out for any contractor/vendor to which you paid $600 or more.

3) The misunderstanding of this form is that you only need to submit it for independent contractors that you’ve hired to do work (second shooters, for example). But ANY non-corporate business (sole proprietor, partnership, LLC, etc) that you hired to do any work that totaled more than $600 in the year will need to receive a 1099-MISC form. If they are an incorporated business, you do not need to send this. (There are a few types of 1099s. The one that typically refers to miscellaneous contractor income is the 1099-MISC.)

4) This would include (but not limited to):

– graphic and web designers hired to do your branding
– rental services
– attorneys
– commissions paid to non-employees
– mileage reimbursement paid to non-employees
– weekend assistants
– second shooters?and the list goes on …

5) In 2011, the IRS added a statement to the income return (1040) that will ask you if you are required to file any 1099s and if you already filed them (or, are planning to do so).

6) The 1099 has to be issued from an official IRS 1099 3-part form. (This isn’t a form you can download from the IRS site.) You can get the official IRS form by requesting one from the IRS or buying forms at an office store (Staples or Office Max, for example.) A copy of the 1099 is given to the contractor and it is their responsibility to submit to the IRS with their tax return.

Lastly, make sure that the person you’ve hired as a contractor is INDEED a contractor and not employee. Visit our blog to learn more about contractors.

Need more help? Make sure to check out The People Plan, our easy-peasy hiring and training tools. www.thepeopleplan.biz

Please reconfirm this information with a tax attorney or CPA or both! Better to be over prepared than under, right?

This is guest blog post by Michelle Loretta who loves to talk shop and discuss business strategy. So, in 2009 she started a blog: Sage Wedding Pros. This blog would evolve to cover all things business in the wedding and event industry. She has a background in finance, having armed herself with a BS in Accounting from University of Southern California and having spent her early career working for Deloitte LLP. She spent 5 years in the fashion industry as a sales manager for DDLA, and a visual merchandiser for Coach, Inc. In 2008, Michelle co-founded the wedding industry not-for-profit Get Hitched Give Hope.

Oh … the agony! Writing a business plan! It takes blood, sweat, tears… weeks turn into months turn into years. What a grueling process!

OR – that’s what people think.

Listen, I teach people how to write business plans daily. It doesn’t have to be this way. Let’s get some things straight here …

A Business Plan Is A Set Of Goals

Yep – that’s all it is. And, goal-setting challenges us to be better business owners. Goal-setting gives us a target to aim for. If you don’t have a target, how can you ever hit the bulls-eye?

Cover All Your Bases

The beauty of the business plan is that it forces you to look at four areas of your business: your company vision, your marketing, your operations, and your finances. So often we set goals with only a couple of these in mind. But a strong business needs to build on all four areas.

– What do you want your business to be known for?
– How are you going to sell that?
– How are you going to run your business to provide that?
– How are you going to make money doing it?

Make It Your Own

Unless you are seeking investors or financing, the business plan should be for you. If it’s 3 pages or 30 pages – just get some thing down on paper. It can be paragraphs or lists. Make it your own. And make it easy for you to write. Better yet: make it easy for you to USE.

Find a Buddy

Things are always more fun with friends. Find a coach, a friend, or a mentor to help you with this. Whether you meet monthly with an industry colleague to work ON your business plans – or whether you attend a workshop. This accountability makes it easier to get it done if you can have a little social interaction along the way.

USE IT!

What good is a plan if you don’t use it? (This is the real importance of making it your OWN.) Goals change and evolve over time. This plan isn’t set in stone. Refer to it daily. Make it a part of your business life. And, make the business plan a continuously evolving, living, breathing document.

About The Simple Plan

The Simple Plan is a no-sweat, no-fuss, piece-of-cake, easy-peasy approach to writing a business plan. We've taken out the dirty work and made this fun and collaborative. It is open to all wedding industry professionals: from start-ups just getting their feet wet to experienced pros who are looking to take their business to the next level.

Read all about The Simple Plan for event and wedding professionals

New York Workshop:
The Simple Plan – May 10-11, 2011 – 9:30am-4:30pm
At Jason Groupp Studio
Register now for the New York workshop!

Dallas Workshop:
The Simple Plan – March 22-23, 2011 – 9:30am-4:30pm
At Holiday Inn Express – Galleria
Register now for the Dallas workshop!

UPDATE: Michelle Loretta is offering Tiffinbox newsletter subscribers $50 off towards the NYC workshop. 1) Sign up for the Tiffinbox newsletter, 2) Send me an email to seshu at tiffinbox dot org so that I can confirm your email matches and 3) I'll email you back with the special code. Deal?