Should You Officially Register Your Freelance Business?

I've owned quite a few businesses in my day - some I've registered, some not.

Each person and their situation is different, so consider the following when trying to decide if officially registering your freelance writing enterprise is right for you.

Paperwork

Any type of business you register is going to generate paperwork from good ole Uncle Sam (ie, the IRS). The reason I didn't register some of the businesses I've owned is that I just didn't want to go through the hassle of filling out some inane form because I made $7,000 last year.

Some things you will be forced to deal with: Filing annual and/or quarterly taxes (no matter how much you made - or lost); paying business registration fees; getting an EIN number, filing more complicated personal taxes; etc.

The paperwork - for even the simplest business - can be, at best, annoying, and at worst, downright harrying. If you're not adept at this, don't want to deal with it and/or can't afford to hire an accountant to handle it, then you might want to accept checks in your own name, instead of registering a business.

Image

This is one of the major reasons to register a business. It makes you appear more professional. Although, I know plenty of long-time freelance writers who accept checks in their own name.

On the invoice, simply put: "Make Payable to Yuwanda Black," for example.

Depending on how you market your services - eg, high-end, blue-chip clients, as opposed to small, independent shops.

One thing I will say is, if you have a website and the name of the business listed on the site is, for example, The Writing Tavern, most clients will automatically assume that's how checks should be made out. I've done both in my career - and really, once you secure a client, it hasn't made that much of a difference because by then, they will have the quality of your work in front of them.

Registering the Right Way

What I mean by this is, if you decide to register your business, you must figure out which structure works best for you (eg, sole proprietorship, Corporation (Subchapter S, Subchapter C, LLC)); etc.