7 Tax Tips for Tennis Pros

Ken and Karen DeHart along with Karen’s father have one of the largest family owned tax practices in Northern California. Ken does tennis and taxes and Karen does theater and taxes – how about that for a little right brain – left brain activity?

Tax time can be a challenge for Tennis Teaching Professionals. Most pros love to be on the court doing what they do best – teach the game of tennis.

About January of each year we have this distant alarm that goes off in our head – April 15th is approaching. We have this tug at our heart and head that says, “Get your information in order – soon.” Here are some tips that may help you with organizing your information and figuring out what you can and cannot deduct.

Tip #1 Be Prepared when you meet your preparer.

Your tax preparer is usually not a bookkeeper. When you schedule your appointment have receipts and expenses totaled so your preparer does not have to run a calculator tape (and charge you extra.)

Tip #2 Keep categories

Know the titles of you major income and expenses. For example: Tournament Entry Fees, Advertising, Junior Tennis Parties, Awards, Tennis Balls, Marketing, Professional Dues, Tennis Socials, etc. Once these categories are set up get an accordion file folder and label each section to match your categories. When you get a receipt, drop it in the correct section. Come tax time you can pull the receipts out and total them and have the final figures ready for your preparer. Once these categories have been established, it becomes easy to keep them going from year to year and your preparer will have the same categories set up in their computer to match.

Tip #3 Check your records

In addition to checking and totaling your receipts, pull out your check register to be sure you did not forgotten some expenses. Next, pull out your credit card summary and using a yellow highlighter, mark each of your expenses on the report. You may also use several highlighters and color code your expenses. This will make it easy to identify where an expense might go on your summary.

Tip #4 Pay your quarterlies

The biggest surprise, and not a good one, is forgetting to pay your estimated quarterlies on self employed income (1099’s and no withholding.) It is easier to come up with four smaller amounts throughout the year, rather than waiting to pay at the end. Also waiting to pay can be expensive and often includes penalties and interest on top you the taxes you owe on your income.

Tip #5 Deduct only your own expenses

When you travel for tournaments or professional education, it is great you bring your family along – you just cannot deduct your family’s expenses on your Schedule C. Be sure to keep your food, travel and other expenses separate from theirs. It may be a good idea to write your portion of a meal on the receipts as you pay, so you are not guessing when your preparer asks for YOUR expenses.

Tip # 6 You must make a profit or it is considered a hobby.

It is great that you have all those expenses to reduce your total 1099 income but the IRS says you need to show a profit within a period of time (3 of the last 5 years) or it is considered a hobby. A business is in the business of making a profit. Showing a loss every year may reduce what you have to pay the IRS, but the IRS might re-categorize your tennis business as a hobby.

Tip #7 The IRS looks more closely at Schedule C reports

Be diligent in preparing your Schedule C. The IRS knows this is a common place to find inappropriate and bogus expenses. If they audit you, it can be a time consuming experience. They may ask you to provide receipts for each of your deductions in a specific category or all of your schedule C expenses. Play it a little conservative but be fair to yourself and to Uncle Sam.

If you make it a practice to keep on top of your income and expenses throughout the year, it makes tax-time less stressful and ultimately saves you time and money. If your situation changes, be sure to consult your tax advisor on your best course of action to avoid surprises on April 15th.

Photo Credits: 1

Related Posts

• Racquet Mail: How to Create a Better Forehand Question: I am finding that my swing and my backhand grip are much better than my forehand. When I go for a forehand shot, it usually ends up with a tremendous amount of topspin making it difficult to hit. Still, my opponent on the other side of the net seems......
• Job Description for Director of Tennis Member Relations: 1. Maintain accurate and updated profiles of all members, contact all new members and get them involved within the first 30 days of membership. 2. Solicit appropriate member feedback about programs, the club and staff for member retention, program and staff evaluation. 3. Promote and market the brand......
• The Hour Glass of Momentum in Tennis Imagine you have an hour glass in front of you. The top half of the hour glass represents the momentum in your tennis match when you are winning. The bottom half represents the player who is losing. The person who is winning has a wealth of information available to them......
• 7 Reasons to "Stencil" or Logo Your Racquet Strings? Ever thought about why your racquet comes with a "stenciled" logo on the strings.  Wilson has a big red"W", Prince has a big black "P", Yonnex has a big "YY", Dunlop has a "D" inside a circle with a pointed arrow and etc. This "branding" is applied with a particular......
• Ball Machines – Using them for Singles Practice Ball machines are great for practicing your singles shots – if positioned correctly. 5 things NOT to do when using a ball machine: Do not place the ball machine only on the baseline in the center of the court Do not have the ball machine oscillate only from deuce court......

Related Websites

• Year-end checklists for flexible spending accounts This is a good time of the year to shore up this year's flexible spending account (FSA) expenditures and prepare for next year's. The FSA I'm talking about here is a plan that may be offered through your (US) employer, whereby a part of your paycheck is withheld each period,......
• Year End Income Tax Guide (Part 1) Part of the hard truth we all have to accept includes death and taxes.  Even Mr. ToughMoneyLove can take only such much hard truth so I choose not to write about death.  That leaves taxes.  This being December, it's time to think about last minute tax strategies for 2008 and......
• 100 Quick Tennis Tips pt 1 Here are 100 quick and easy tennis tips to get your game going. We're going to spread this list out over a couple of posts to keep it interesting. Tip #1 - Before you pick up the game of tennis, you should absolutely make sure to consult a physician to......
• 100 Quick Tennis Tips pt 3 Here are 100 quick and easy tennis tips to get your game going. We're going to spread this list out over a couple of posts to keep it interesting. Tip #25 - You are going to want to imitate the incoming ball's trajectory using your backswing. For example, if the......
• It's Health Insurance Open Enrollment Time - Choose Wisely. For those of you getting your health insurance from your employer, you will probably be asked either this month or next to sign up again for the insurance plan that you want. Most of us always stick with the same one we had the previous year, but with costs rising......

This post involves:

accordion, bookkeeper, brain activity, calculator tape, check register, extra tip, file folder, highlighters, junior tennis, northern california, professional dues, receipt, receipts, right brain left brain, tax practices, tax preparer, tax time, tennis balls, tennis parties, tug

... and focuses on:

Jobs

Posted by Ken DeHart on March 30, 2009 in Jobs. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.