Is this hoop for an apartment even worth jumping through? [CPA question, self-employment]

Kamar

So, I've been back to actually doing freelance writing jobs for about six months (vs not working at all because of brain problems), so I'm moving out of my mom's house and up near my sister in Illinois (mostly because they expanded Medicaid and MS and TN down near my mother did not).

Trying to get this apartment with a roommate (and room for a third person who is moving in with us in a few months), and they want me to go to a CPA to estimate my self-employment income for the next year.

My average is just short of $1600/mth excluding December, when my clients had little to no work for me (which is normal for December).

I get paid exclusively through PayPal, but the first few months weren't going to me or my business account, they were going to my sister who then forwarded it to me, because I was taking over her clients. So I have 11 months of earning nothing (first payments came in December), a year before that of earning almost nothing (like $1600 on my tax return that year). And I think the year before that was basically nothing as well.

So what I'm wondering is whether this will cost more than its worth (vs just finding another place) to get done AND if I have it done, will they/should they give me a super low estimate based on my previous two-three years of terrible nothing tax returns or look at the jump once I took over these clients and extrapolate my next year based on those?

If I just say it's a business I started in November, since I wasn't working for, uh, a year or three, even though I did this same work before, is that better? Or is that, like, fraud?

Should I say screw all this and find somewhere else, I'm kinda short on time to find a place that's in town, has 3br/2b, allows pets, and won't be exactly as much a pain as this one (I'm at my sister's house, which is owned by her MIL, who gave me two weeks which was fine when we thought I was just signing a few things and waiting for the apartment to be cleaned after I got here and not this big song and dance)?

bowen

Not a CPA, but I've run my own businesses:

Proving income is a pretty common thing to do.

Have you paid quarterly taxes and have essentially a documented proof of income on your tax returns yet? That's generally good enough for places for rent and mortgages. It's pretty easy to "estimate" your annual income based off your monthly or weekly revenue.

Another possibility is your roommate(s) can assume the role of the primary lease holder and you can rent from them 9 times out of 10 and just list yourself as a resident. The roommate will be on the hook for the full amount so make sure they're on board with this. Then you just pay them your rent and you're done.

You'll likely have to prove your income almost everywhere you go if you're attempting to name yourself on the lease.

My only other advice is to absolutely make sure you're filing your quarterly taxes since you're self employed, you're above the threshold. You might look into forming an LLC or S-Corp too, let's you save yourself some money for office equipment and all that with tax write offs (also protects you liability wise).

Kamar

bowen wrote: »

Not a CPA, but I've run my own businesses:

Proving income is a pretty common thing to do.

Have you paid quarterly taxes and have essentially a documented proof of income on your tax returns yet? That's generally good enough for places for rent and mortgages. It's pretty easy to "estimate" your annual income based off your monthly or weekly revenue.

Another possibility is your roommate(s) can assume the role of the primary lease holder and you can rent from them 9 times out of 10 and just list yourself as a resident. The roommate will be on the hook for the full amount so make sure they're on board with this. Then you just pay them your rent and you're done.

You'll likely have to prove your income almost everywhere you go if you're attempting to name yourself on the lease.

My only other advice is to absolutely make sure you're filing your quarterly taxes since you're self employed, you're above the threshold. You might look into forming an LLC or S-Corp too, let's you save yourself some money for office equipment and all that with tax write offs (also protects you liability wise).

Yeah, I've been asked to prove income before for apartments, in the past they've been satisfied with my PayPal or bank statements. I got a quote from an online CPA of $595 for this, I have no clue if that's high or low but it feels like a lot to spend to maybe still get rejected by an apartment. I've messaged the apartments and asked if the exact thing I'd get--a projection based on those six months and the specific numbers I know that projection will show--would be guaranteed to clear me for a place, probably won't get an answer today (if at all, since I'm talking to the manager and all this goes through some property company compliance officer who may not be willing to say).