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Can Anyone Answer a Few Questions?
Well guys, it’s a few days into October, and I’m stuck trying to figure out how my teammate and I are going to make our money. Despite Wonckay and I being only 14, we’ve planned to try and rake in some dough anyway. I think I can send the money through my parents when necessary, but there’s a lot we don’t know about what we’re doing in terms of business. So, I have a few questions for those who are more experienced than I am. We’re in the U.S., and thinking about using either BMTMicro/another payment service or Desura to sell through. Forgive me if I ask anything stupid or ignorant, but let’s just say I’m not nearly as good with this as I am programming. (And I’m far from perfect with that, too, haha.)
1) I’m pretty sure that both of the aboved services, to some extent, take out some government taxes before giving you your money. What I’m not sure about is whether or not I’ll have to pay any more taxes after that- would everything be taken care of? Because if there’s one thing I don’t understand, it’s taxes, and I’m hoping they don’t get in the way.
2) What kind of business license needs to be registered? You have no idea how much research I’ve done on this without getting any solid answers. Sources say everything from “you don’t need one” to information seemingly meant for physical businesses. So, what do I need, and how should I get it? Will using Desura rather than selling it with BMTMicro make a difference? (You know, since using Desura would make us under another business.)
3) Is it even smart for us to try and be making money at this age? I know it’s risky, but I’m really hoping we can do it. I’ve seen other people who say that it would be better if the young guys here were to just forget about it, but I’m not so sure. I’d like to try out the commercial thing, you know? So please, don’t just say, “Don’t worry about the money, just have fun, stay in school, hohoho, merry Christmas!” (If it’s really that hard, maybe I can just set up a donation system from free to infinity dollars. I would definitely appreciate infinity dollars.)
Thanks in advance!
I really hope this gets answered, with more detail than asked for. because a fair bit of ludum dare community is unsure about this stuff.
1.) I don’t think Desura takes out government taxes, but they will take out money for you using there service.
2.) Being an independent game developer, freelance artist, etc. doesn’t need licenses because it’s not a physical business and your not selling a physical product.
3.) I’m 16 and I’m trying to make money from my game. I have a passion for game development and if I want to continue making games, I need money.
1.) Hmm. I wonder what this is then? [link redacted] Maybe they mean Desura taxes…? Oh, and does anyone know about BMT?
EDIT: Oh… disregard that link. It’s talking about Australia and European taxes, my bad. Still, anyone know about BMT, though?
2.) Alright, that’s a relief. I trust you, but just to be sure, can anyone confirm that?
3.) Nice! ♩♩WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER…♩♩
1) Nobody takes care of your taxes for you. You are expected to report any income you make to the IRS, unless your yearly income is under a certain amount, or someone claims you as a dependent. Unless your game is making thousands of dollars, you really don’t have to worry about taxes.
2) You are allowed to do business as an individual without any sort of licenses or anything like that. While at a certain point it may be wise to incorporate, that point is most likely far off. In fact, many people that do spend the money to form a corporation, or rent office space, or other business-ey things, really don’t have to and a re probably wasting money.
3) I started trying to make money off games when I was 18, and I wish that I had prepared for years before that. While I eventually ended up doing alright, and for a while was making decent money, the first year or so was spent doing a lot of work and making little money. I wouldn’t expect to make money now, but preparing for making money in the future, and establishing a base really can’t hurt you.
1) Awesome. Just awesome. I always knew there was a minimum, I just thought it was really, really low. If it’s thousands of dollars, then I guess I’m good!
2) Relief is now confirmed righteous!
3) Great! I don’t expect we’ll make more than like fifty bucks, and that’s if we’re lucky, but like you said, establishing a base is probably a good idea!
Wow, I needed to see a post like this.
I have some of the same questions you do Puzzlem00n.
If your going to have a card to collect money online, use a debit. For credit you must be 18 or older.
For debit be as old as you wish.
Also, I’ve been worrying about the child labor laws act (Stupid law nowadays!) and seeing if it is legal to promote or sell a commercial game because neither me or my parents have a license on commercial games. Also, PUBLISHING!!!! Where the hell am I going to publish my game, who will publish it, how can I publish it, ETC. Because before I can sell my game, I must license that, and how will license that for a 13 year old? Anybody, or nobody? When it comes down to this I don’t know if I can get anything done. But Puzzlem00n, very helpful post, as it answers many (NOT ALL) of my questions.
Sorry, this is late, I know. Child labor laws don’t actually apply unless you’re under someone else’s employment. If you’re on your own, just like everyone knows in the back of their minds from running lemonade stands, you’re good. Oh, and publishing? I’m not sure that’s even the right word, because most indies just sell a game themselves, and publishing implies another company distributing it. This has always been a favorite way to do that, from what I can gather: http://www.bmtmicro.com/
Other than licenship, sponering, AND advertising, I WILL BE DOING THIS! *Chourus!*
Oh and i left you a little present in Javascript to knock yourself out.
:Var i, z, y
:i = 001100110011 = “Lets ”
:z = 283848556 = “Do this cha”
:y = 66667767767 = “llange!”
:console.log(i+z+y)
I hope I did it right, whatever, its what I know so far… Good luck to you!