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It seems every month or so, we all hear about certain states that intend to pass laws to force Amazon to collect sales taxes on online transactions. Amazon has been clear about what it will do if these laws are passed. The company has already kicked out thousands of affiliates in the past few months. More will meet the same fate as long as states are passing these laws.

Many small blogs rely on Amazon to stay afloat. Let’s face it. Not every blog gets thousands of visitors every month. Small blog owners have a more difficult time getting sponsorships and direct ads on their sites. Google Adsense can be a good source of revenue. But it won’t make anyone a millionaire without a ton of traffic (we are talking many millions of impressions). Amazon tax may have not come to your state yet. But it could be well on its way.  States are in trouble, which means they will need to raise their revenue using any way possible.

As a blogger, you do not want to wait around and pray to gods for bad things not to happen to your business. There is no magic doll or chant you can use to stop the Internet sales tax. So instead of worrying about it, here are 7 things you can do to insure the future of your business:

1. hedge your bets: it is true that some people are making a killing promoting Amazon products. But there are other merchants you can partner with to keep making money even if Amazon kicks you out.
2. start building assets: focusing on your blog 24/7 is not the best way to insure the future of your business. While bloggers should not cut any corners when creating their content, they do want to focus on building strong social presences, killer newsletters, and vibrant communities to make their business’ foundations stronger.
3. develop your own product: you may be your own boss as a blogger but if you are promoting only affiliate products, your fate is not in your hands. That’s why ever blogger should create a product or two on the side.
4. create a membership site: if you are passionate about keeping up with a certain topic or know a whole lot about it, there is no reason you should not share what you know through your own membership site. Recurring revenue models let you focus more on your business and worry less about the Internet tax.
5. go beyond your blog: once your blog starts getting some traction, people may start offering you book ideas, speaking gigs, and things of that nature. These gigs may not be your cup of tea but they allow your blog to survive in case the worst case scenario comes to fruition.
6. network with others: networking matters a lot in this business. Connecting with other bloggers in your niche (and other markets) can open new doors of opportunity for you.  Besides, it is nice to have a network to count on when trouble comes your way.
7. never ever burn bridges: during your blogging career, you will most likely end up meeting and interacting with a lot of folks. You may not be a fan of all these people. At the same time, you never know which one of the folks you know can open the next door of opportunity for you. So never burn bridges with anyone.

The idea of states implementing new tax laws is scary to many bloggers. These laws won’t be too scary if you have done your homework to protect your business.

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No matter what you think of your blog, the government treats your blogging venture as a business. That means you are going to get taxed on the revenue that you make from your efforts. You will most likely have to pay local and state taxes on your income too. Those of you who are dedicated to improving your blog should keep investing in it to take it to the next level. There is no reason you shouldn’t be able to write off your business expenditure. Of course, you do not want to make up expenses to reduce your tax liability (being dishonest will come back to haunt you when you are audited). At the same time, it may not be smart to save everything you make when you can spend money on tools and products that can boost your blog while reducing your tax burden at the same time. Here are just 6 blog-expanding expenses that you can probably write off:

• office tools: in order to blog and run your business more effectively, you are going to need your own office and some tools to go inside it. You may need a printer or a camera to produce content and complete your daily tasks. Most of these costs can be written off (as long as they are reasonable of course).
• computers & laptops: I have seen many bloggers who use their personal computer for their blogging efforts. There is nothing wrong with that. If you want to treat your blog as a business, you should probably try to keep your personal and business assets separate. Bloggers do need a decent computer or laptop to develop their content on. There is no reason not to invest in one.
• your design jobs: paying for a custom design job for your blog is another way to boost your business and bring more credibility to it. Custom logos and themes are not cheap. The good news is you can write these costs off and reduce your tax liability in the process.
• web hosting & domain fees: this is a no brainer. In order to keep your website running, you will have to pay domain registration and web hosting fees. Those of you who have more established blogs probably have to pay a significant amount of money to your web host. These are legitimate business expenses.
• advertising: so many bloggers are afraid of advertising their blogs on Google and through other ad networks. These costs can be written off too. You do not want to go insane with ads. But don’t be afraid to spend some money to test different ideas.
• outsourcing costs: no matter how dedicated you are and how many nights you can go with only 1 or 2 hours of sleep, at some point you will need help to further grow your business. Outsourcing costs can be written off too. Many of these services won’t cost you a whole lot anyway.

Having an accountant to help you out with your tax issues is a smart idea here. You should not make expenses up for obvious reasons nor do you want to invest in things you don’t need. At the same time, don’t hesitate to take into account your legitimate business costs.

Bloggers need to pay taxes as well. In fact, if you are a professional blogger, you are going to have a more complicated tax process than someone who’s working as a blogger for another company. The self-employment tax process can be a bit more complicated, so you want to make sure you do everything possible to save yourself time with the process without putting your business in danger. Most bloggers work with multiple companies to make money online. Their revenue consists of affiliate commission checks, adsense (advertising) checks, and maybe sponsorship funds. You are going to have to pay taxes on all these items. Things would be simple if you were working with only a handful of companies. But chances are you work with multiple affiliate companies and sponsors. That’s why you want to make sure you stay on the top of your taxes and keep track of things so you don’t have to scramble when preparing your taxes the following year.

Here are 5 simple ways you can save yourself time and effort when dealing with your taxes:

• Stay organized: I can’t emphasize on this point enough. There are a lot of bloggers who like operating in chaos. There is nothing wrong with that if it works for you. However, you can’t take the same approach with your taxes. If you are dealing with multiple companies, you can’t afford to be lazy. Besides, staying organized does help you to focus more on things that matter the most to your business, such as creating high quality content.
• Keep track of your expense: while you don’t want to go overboard with what you write off as your business expense, you still want to keep track of all your blog’s expenses to bring your taxes lower. Using a business credit card could help here. Most business credit cards provide you with an annual expense report each year. If you have only used one or two credit cards, you’ll have an easier time tracking your costs. You’ll be more ready for an audit as well. 
• Get a business checking out: another way to keep track of your revenues and expenses is by opening a business bank account. Not only you can brand your checks with your company name, you can also stay on the top of your costs and checks easily. There are plenty of companies that offer free business checking accounts (e.g. PNC Bank). If you happen to own a more mature blog and make a decent amount of money from it, you may want to sign up for a premium business checking account.
• Use PayPal: there are lots of affiliate programs that don’t send you checks. That has actually worked out better for me. PayPal transactions are much easier to keep track of and the reports you can get out of the system are just superb. PayPal is your best friend if you are too worried about doing your taxes.
• Use Software: I am not a big fan of tax software kits, but accounting software packages are another story. Whether it’s Quickbooks or Peach Tree software, it always pays to be organized and use a software package to keep track of the state of your business. You never know when you are going to get audited, but when you are, you’ll be ready for it.

Preparing taxes is not exactly my favorite activity. But you’ll have to do it if you want to stay in business. Being organized and keeping track of everything (including your receipts) can go a long way towards saving you future tax headaches.

What say you?

Small businesses are often very likely to get audited. There is a reason for that. There are some people who write every single thing off and always come up with zero or negative income. There is nothing wrong with that as long as you can prove that things you have bought are necessary for you to conduct your business. So don’t go on a world trip or buy a boat for tax purposes and expect the authorities to ignore your write off. That being said, there are simple things you can do to lower your tax and add to your blog. Here are 5 ideas to get you started:

Office makeover: giving your office a makeover is a great way to save on your tax and give yourself a more productive environment. Whether it’s picking up a new computer or a monitor, there are plenty of things you can buy for your office.

WordPress themes: if you happen to run your blog on WordPress, you can always write off the cost of re-designing your blog. You do want to talk to your accountant about the details, but it’s another way to enhance your blog and lower your tax. The same applies to themes you buy for other platforms.

Logo: getting a professional looking logo designed for your blog should be one of your priorities if you haven’t done it already. This process can be a bit costly, so you want to make sure you get the tax benefits if possible.

Premium Software: I know a lot of us can work with free photo editors that are available online. But if you run a professional blog, you may need premium software solutions such as Photoshop. These are not cheap and can certainly quality as a cost of doing business online.

Branding: selling your own merchandise or giving away t-shirts is not going to happen for free. That will cost you some money. You want to make sure you account for these when you prepare your taxes.

My suggestion to newbie bloggers is to ask about the above items from your accountant before trying to prepare your taxes all by yourself. There are so many confusing rules and regulations out there, and you certainly don’t want to get in the IRS’ bad graces. You certainly don’t want to buy things that don’t add any value to your business, and you don’t want to write off things that shouldn’t be. Of course, after a couple of times, you are going to get a hang of what you can write off. That’s why you should act very curious when meeting with your accountant.