A business is most any income personally generated but not from employment, in the eyes of the IRS.

Someone selling stuff on eBay is running a business.

Consulting about anything you know about and charging a fee is running a business.

The problem you will have is only if you overstate your business (claim employees you don't have, claim business income you don't have, claim a business name you don't have, etc) and haven't prepared an answer as to what kind of business you have (or are about to start) if you're asked.

When I file my taxes would I need to do anything differently?

Not if you're running it as a sole proprietorship. If you structured the company as a corporation, LLC, etc., then it's a different story.

business cards worth it? Noob Question
 

Sorry I couldn't find a wiki to answer this. want to get a business card for personal use.

I want to try and lock up in chase ink before applying for too many cards due to new restrictions. TV/internet/cell hit put a dent in the wallet so cash back would be nice. The blogs say to go ahead and go for it using name and social even if you just do a little buying and selling online. However, is it worth it?

My primary concern is does this info get shared with the government leading to tax headaches? Also, can there really be problems using it for personal use to get rewards? I guess I just want to make sure I can treat it like any other card once approved.

Thanks in advance to any replies.

"this info". What info? The fact that you have a business credit card? The credit bureaus will know that you applied for a business credit card, and there is at least one business credit bureau. The government has control over them.

How would it lead to tax headaches? What are you afraid of specifically? You're just asking "can anything bad happen?", and that question is way too vague. What do you expect to happen?

First of all, you said Chase. Getting business cards at Chase is reportedly significantly harder than at Amex or Citi.

Generally speaking (as otherwise your post seemed to be a general question), don't worry about taxes. Just don't do risky things with the card. None of the standard "consumer protections" apply to business cards. That's one reason why several banks (other than Chase) don't find handing them out like candy, because people who have problems will have less legal resources than if they'd had a personal card.

But if you are responsible with your card usage and don't do risky stuff (like use the business card with companies you've heard of which turn out to be scams), it shouldn't be a problem (if and once you're approved).

That is pretty much what I'm asking though. Any headaches associated with having that class of card if you use it like any other paying off in full each month? I wouldn't lie on the application, but I don't want it to involve any more scrutiny after approval than a personal card would.

Probably not for me then, thanks

If it's just a risk/reward based on usage for a card, I will mull it over. I could really use a rebate on cell/tv/internet. Just didn't want to be blindsided with any issues claiming to be a business. Thanks

Business credit cards are not just for businesses. They're also for people who do business. That's not just semantics; there's a difference. If a person has a hobby of making and selling birdhouses, then she could legitimately want to keep those expenses separate from her day-to-day expenses. There's nothing wrong with that in terms of taxes, credit terms and conditions, or anything else.

The differences are things like:
But if you're one of those who proactively cancels before the annual fee even hits, that's not going to effect you.

I've seen no "scrutiny" after approval. It's just that I know I can't rely on things that Consumer Credit laws specifically control. So I'm very conservative about not incurring any fees, not violating any rules, not stetching any limits, etc. (But then, I'm a bit risk averse, so i tend to do that with most any card. But I guess I'm a bit more careful to do it with business cards.)

Meanwhile, don't necessarily count on all those bonuses on cell/TV/internet working. On a Citi Business card I had, most of those bonuses never posted. I never got around to asking why (were those business differently classified, or what?). I might have used the card a bit more if those category bonuses had posted, as it was I put the card aside once I finished the minimum spend for the signup bonus.)

Chase doesn't care if you put personal spend on a business card. I have an Ink Bold that gives bonuses for meeting spend targets (7,500 points for $25,000 spend, 15,000 more for $50,000 and up). To meet those bonus targets, each year I use that Ink for ALL spending, business and personal, until I reach my spending goal. I have been doing this for three years without a problem. Same with putting business spend on a personal card. Chase doesn't care.

Seeking Business Card Advice
 

I am partner/owner in a 10 physician medical practice and I'm looking for some help in choosing a business card or cards that we can use to accumulate miles and/or points. There is very little work-related travel involved, so the approach would need to be based on spending. Our expenditures per month are in the six figure range. The ideal card would be one which allowed for a single account with all ten names on it and all ten partners would be allowed to accumulate points which we could divide up as we see fit. Does such a card exist? If not, which cards allow the highest numbers of names on the account to use the points? Amex and Chase would be my first choices, both because of the quality of the points, but any points would need to be transferrable to personal accounts to make this work. I realize it may be necessary for each of to obtain a card of our choosing and have the business use those cards in such a way that expenditures are equal, but that seems overly complicated. I'd appreciate any and all ideas/thoughts.....

You asked the wrong question - The program itself actually bans this kind of practice.

AFAIK - all business card rewards are earned and deposited into the personal (cardholder) level.

My vote would be to not get the 10 partners personally involved in this. If the business is currently paying out expenses to vendors / suppliers / other day to day expenses with check (six figures as you say), that should be closely looked at to evaluate for potential cost saving or value generation. No point in getting the 10 partners credit personally involved in this, though of course you'd run this by them in your next partners meeting. With a 10 person partnership you probably have someone handling the business end (who cuts the checks every month?). They should be in charge of credit card handling - as I assume you trust this person enough to cut the checks for you anyways. They should just switch to paying by credit card unless they have a significant surcharge. It would be a good idea to keep an online account login to keep an eye on things.

As to what card to pick. The easiest would be a straight up 2% cash back card (or those that are easily turned to statement credit) - you have several to pick from. The 2% return could be applied to future expenses and thus would be equally distributed amongst the partners. You could take this one step further and get cards specific for certain expense type (e.g. office supplies, etc) where you get a higher say 3%-5% cash back on those particular categories. You could further branch out into other instruments beyond simple cash back such as airline miles / points / etc but it gets much more complicated (unless they can be directly redeemed for statement credit) as it relates to fair and equitable distribution amongst the 10 partners as you've already surmised. It is true that you would get better redemption rate on other constructs such as airline flight or hotel bookings though things start to get more complicated with 10 partners.

This wouldn't ofcourse limit the partner with personal interest in obtaining a business credit card on their own and managing it on their own (and thus reaping the points / miles). Clearly, the expense cannot be a shared company expenses (e.g. day to day expenses) as those should go on the company card as above. Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair to the other partners.

BTW if you're in an imaging practice and looking to hire a fellowship trained individual - please PM me :)

I would suggest Amex Business Platinum. Have all people be authorized users of your primary account. This enables you to pool the Membership Rewards points into 1 account. It's also easy to track and see who spent what. You could also use the Amex Bix Gold for cheaper fees, but the benefits are less.
Unfortunately, Chase Ultimate Rewards now only lets you pool points between spouses, so unless you're willing to break the T&C, Amex is your only option.