Cheap Clousers

[JSzymczyk 0]

Around here there are very few jobs that a kid can do who is under 16. You might get someone to throw you some under the table cash but it's illegal to hire them in most cases. I think maybe , or at least they used to be able to, bus tables in a restaurant, sell news papers and maybe not a whole lot more. I don't know if that's federal or state regs but all my grand kids have trouble getting work till 16yo and even then there are limits on hours worked. Oh you can sell lemonade if you get a peddlers( $200) permit from the town. It's not at all like when I was a kid. I had a 108 customer paper route at age 11 and split part of that off to another kid whom I paid to deliver the papers to 35 customers because it was kind of removed from the main route. At age 13 I took that back, in 1963 I averaged over $50 a week at age 13. At 14 I went to work in a catering service and canteen truck warehouse part time winters and full time summers legally, couldn't believe my paper route paid more if you included tips. At 15 I worked janitorial, legally and cleaned one whole floor of the IBM building at night. I made $1.25 and hour in 1965 and kept that job till I went to school at 18 to be a mechanic. It's not like that today, at least around these parts. I used to think the kids were lazy, no some want to work but can not around here. That's our highly liberal society at work for them.

 

Amen.

[JSzymczyk 0]

Don't lose sight of the fact that you are growing up in a place where people come from all over the world to fish.... if you truly want to make a life in the sport fishing industry, you can. Seems to me there are two ways to "succeed"... maybe three... 1) win the powerball and be independently wealthy, 2) become "somebody" in the competitive BASCAR scene, or 3) work exceedingly hard as a guide- excel above all the rest, innovate something really different and effective, and write books about it. All of them are equally likely but hey, it DOES happen. Competitive fishing is moronic to me, I don't play the lottery often enough, and I have less than a positive opinion about guides so I will continue to fish on the weekends and vacation time... Hopefully I can retire at a time I have a few decent years left to enjoy life full time. Much like Mikechell I worked at cutting grass, shoveling snow, raking leaves, digging septic tanks, and paper routes as a kid, then Military, then civilian... I've never been unemployed (fingers crossed, knock on wood) but the way things look, maybe I've been doing it wrong my whole life.

[1hook 0]

Quick question, I always see people bring up the whole tax thing when selling on eBay.

 

Wouldn't mowing grass/ shoveling side walks etc. also technicaly require you to pay taxes on that income?

 

If so most have us have probably evaded taxes in our younger years.

[Dave G. 0]

Technically probably so. But a cash business at 14 yo with no product to sell but your service is quite a bit different than a store front business on the internet. It's more about getting embarrassingly caught than being legit I suppose. But the 70yo with crippling arthritis who hires a kid to shovel his driveway probably isn't turning the kid in to the IRS, just glad someone shoveled. Who do you know that runs an all cash side business that honestly pays taxes at 14 yo ? Well with EBay I'd suggest you do it.

[mikechell 0]

Wouldn't mowing grass/ shoveling side walks etc. also technicaly require you to pay taxes on that income?

 

If so most have us have probably evaded taxes in our younger years.

Just like all the people, who pass me when I am on "cruise control" doing the speed limit, are criminals ... breaking the law.

Like Dave said, it's not a matter of it being "wrong or right". If you're mowing lawns and getting paid cash ... there's no way anyone can actually track that.

Your online transactions are a "paper trail" that can be accessed at any time.

[heavynets 0]

Concerning federal income tax, I got this off the internet so beware:

 

"Dependents Younger Than 65

The rules for dependents are a bit complicated. First, you can't claim a personal exemption if and when you file if someone else claims you as a dependent. Second, the source of your income comes into play when it comes to determining whether you have to file. Earned income must be less than $5,800 for a dependent who is not yet 65 to avoid filing. But if a dependent receives investment income of $950 or more, he has to file a return, no matter how little he earned. This is true even for children; the parents must then file and sign on their behalf. If you are a dependent and your status is "married filing separately," you have to file with income as low as $5 if your spouse itemizes deductions."

 

I believe the excise tax on sporting goods and state sales tax are a different matter and every cent must be reported. See an accountant.

[elusive.fishing 0]

Just remember, Hes not even out of high school. Honestly, he should focus more on school than finding some great job at 14. I was a janitor for several years, and it was only like 2 hours a day. Sure have dreams, but do what you need to now.

[Saltybum 0]

I really don't think the IRS is going to waste their time and money and agents trying recover pennies from a kid in business when you have high rollers bilking the system for hundreds of thousands. If I'm correct unless you make over a certain amount you don't even have to report it. But keep your records anyway.

[thinkingredneck 0]

The market will tell you if your product is a success. If your costs are less than revenue you made a profit! Good job. If not you will go out of business. Try selling at flea markets, craft shops, and try to get into some gift shops. Offer to sell on commission so there is no risk to the store. Make some into earrings. Think. I want to encourage you. Hustle. Most kids your age sit around plaing video games. I commend you for trying. Work to constantly improve and ignore nay sayers-- let the market tell you.

[milkman 0]

Lordy I hate to rain any more on your parade, but you have no idea of the pitfalls around the edges of sales income. In Oklahoma we have sales tax, state, county, and city. State tax was a constant, but the others all had their individual tax rates. There are over 700 sales tax jurisdictions in Oklahoma, mostly overlapping. I ran a small mail order sideline. The point of sale was defined as the point of delivery, so sales tax had to be calculated based on the buyer's location. States are really uptight about sales tax, so there's precious little hiding if you advertise. Unfortunately, tax jurisdictions are political divisions totally unrelated to zip codes, which are a postal function. So you have no clue what tax jurisdictions are involved when you have only an address. Example, Chelsea is a small town at the corner of 3 counties and has only one zip code for the town and rural delivery. So a buyer might be in or out of town limits and in any one of 3 counties - a lot of possible sales tax combinations, and you have to report the tax collected for each jurisdiction separately. And you have no clue without driving there and seeing their actual location and somehow bucking that against the geopolitical tax boundaries, which of course are not marked by the roadside. Result, it was absolutely impossible to legally sell by mail to in-state buyers. Hopefully something has changed, but I doubt it, I was never able to get anyone interested in increasing sales tax collections by making in-state sales possible. So every ad said no sales in Oklahoma. I could sell in other states due to not having a physical presence there, so no sales tax was due. States are working on that now, so the nightmare groweth.

 

I wouldn't want to talk anyone out of entrepreneurship. But prepare for a nightmare in all kinds of ways you can't imagine now that get more complex every year, and they don't notify you about things like that. So have an accountant to keep you out of trouble.

 

Yeah, I paid my dues at child labor too. Mowed yards all summer with a reel-type mower, all we had back in '49, for the princely sum of 50 cents per. Jerked sodas and swept drug store floors around '53 at 15. Probably two generations now don't know what a soda jerk is. I firmly believe everyone should buck hay at least one summer. After that you'll really appreciate any other job you get.

 

All that aside, I'm proud of you for hustling with your nose out of the smart phone. You'll do well. Best wishes.

[mikechell 0]

I never baled or stacked hay ... but the big thing for a short summer job was "tasseling" corn. That tractor was a "sore-muscle" machine, if ever there was one.

[milkman 0]

The hay was baled and on the ground. You had a hook to grab the other end and young muscles to heave it onto the wagon. For reasons which I still don't understand, the wagons were never less than chest high, and you were tossing the second layer head high. The really fun part was the dust and itch in the summer heat. Any other job sounds good after that.

[Kudu 0]

I really enjoyed bailing hay and stacking when I was younger. We wore gloves and grabbed the bailer twine didn't use hooks. I felt that it made me stronger for football. I liked the cash when I got paid. Got dumped into a pond bailing hay on a golf course once. Hay slid off the top while going around the edge of the pond.

 

What I really hated was working in tobacco. Nasty and hot. Everything sucked about working in it. Tobacco farmers are/were hard working, good folks that earned every penny they got.