CODB and Your Bottom Line: Resources

CODB Calculator:

The National Press Photographers Association created a free online Cost of Doing Business Calculator that walks you through a list of typical business expenses that would be relevant for most self-employed photographers. If you follow my recommendation of creating both a minimum and optimum goal, you would need to run these as two separate calculations.

National Press Photographers Association:

Cost of Doing Business Calculator

https://nppa.org/page/3275 - Introduction

https://nppa.org/calculator - Calculator

https://nppa.org/node/3276 - FAQ

CODB Articles:

Vincent Laforet
How to Succeed as a Creative Long Term: Know Your CODB

http://bit.ly/1bpLnti
Though written in 2013, this article still provides relevant insights into calculating your cost of doing business and includes a pretty thorough list of possible expenses to consider.

Estimating Taxes:

Jackson Hewitt Self Employment Tax Calculator:
http://bit.ly/2gR85oy
When you to enter the amount of self-employment income you anticipate earning, this calculator will show you how much FICA (Social Security + Medicare) you will owe on that income based on current (as of this writing) rates of 2.9% and 12.4% respectively.

Jackson Hewitt Federal Income Tax Calculator:
http://bit.ly/2gR85oyhttp://bit.ly/2gR85oy
Uses 2015 tax rates but provides a reasonable estimate. Be sure to enter self-employment earnings next to the “Business Income or Loss” line item.

For more on Self-Employment Taxes, watch segment 3, Self-Employment Tax Essentials, and download the transcript & resources for segments 1 - 5 of this series.