from Hacker News

Ask HN: To those with successful paying startup projects

by bobblywobbles on 1/17/22, 2:25 AM with 4 comments

I was planning to monetize my blog on ghost through Stripe, but I found out that I need to create a business in order to receive funds. This of course is obvious in retrospect in order to report income to the IRS.

If you have been successful at accepting payment through your business/blog, are you creating an LLC/business or registering your details under your personal account (individual/sole proprietor)? I feel quite lost as I'm unsure of the various options one could take to accept payments.

Your advice or guidance to other materials would be appreciated - I'm sure many of us are not familiar with the business-side of things and would like to monetize our work!

  • by futhey on 1/17/22, 2:52 AM

    > but I found out that I need to create a business in order to receive funds

    Self employment is just one additional page when you file your taxes, and possibly a license from your local government.

    Do your own research, this is not financial or legal advice, but for "monetizing my blog on ghost" I wouldn't even go that far. You can have self-employment income without creating any legal entity or doing any specific registration, and it's very easy to pay taxes on it under additional income.

    Seems like you should be able to set up something more akin to Patreon or just accept donations via PayPal, and if it goes over a certain amount they'll send you a 1099-misc.

  • by c_o_n_v_e_x on 1/17/22, 3:55 AM

    Depending on the nature of your business, the extra cost and burden of incorporating may be worth it so as to provide you protection if you're sued. Edit: By protection, I mean limiting your liability.