@jakeamarkie wrote:
Currently the company I am working with, hires me to take photos and videos for them. My goal in starting an LLC is do offer additional services (Mapping, inspections, etc.), as well as run the operation myself instead of being a middle man if that makes sense.
So in fact, nothing actually changes as far as your taxes are concerned. Right now you are a sole proprietor acting as an independent contractor for another business (assuming you are not a W-2 employee and confusing the two even more). You should be filing a schedule C that reports your income and expenses as part of your regular tax return.
Then, if you form an LLC, nothing actually changes. A single member LLC is considered a "disregarded entity" for income tax purposes and you continue to report your income and expenses on schedule C exactly as before. You would use your EIN for the business instead of your SSN, but the IRS knows they are linked so this doesn't affect anything. You aren't dissolving the old business and starting a new business either, you are just changing the state registration of the business (LLCs are regulated by state law), not the existence or taxability of the business.
(A single member LLC has the option of filing taxes as an S-corporation, but this is too complicated to discuss here, and is something you won't want to do without professional advice.)
The bottom line is that your tax returns don't change when you form a single member LLC. You should have filed a schedule C for 2019, if that's when your business started, and you should have listed your expenses there. Then you will file a schedule C for 2020, and it doesn't change how you file your tax return if you register your LLC in December or January.
(I also don't see how making an LLC makes you more independent. If you are an independent contractor, you can work for any company that wants to hire you already, unless you contract for an exclusive arrangement with one client. You should be able to go out now and solicit business from other clients, regardless of whether you are an unincorporated sole proprietor or the single member owner of an LLC.)
