business tax It is that time of of year again where small business owners need to render their business personal property (BPP). Rendering is summarizing to your appraisal district the ownership and value of the business assets. There are some people running a photography business that are not aware of this requirement. This does not mean you pay double tax on your equipment? A photographer who creates and sells photographs can give an exemption certificate claiming a manufacturing exemption to a vendor when buying the following equipment:

• cameras (film and digital);

• flashes;

• batteries for cameras and flashes;

• scanners used exclusively to digitize images so they can be edited on computers;

• computers and software used exclusively in editing images;

• image setting and proofing equipment;

• film developing chemicals;

• lights, props and sets; and

• special effects equipment and supplies.

Also remember that the tax should be deductible on your federal income tax as an expense. A member, kb2zuz, on dpreview.com forums made a good statement I would like to share;

Before purchasing any equipment the entire cost of ownership should be evaluated. You can't just look at the sticker price. "Ok, if i buy this camera it has bigger files so I'm going to have to add on extra for more/bigger memory cards, my computer is already bogged down with the files from the current camera, so I'm going to have to buy some more RAM and put a new hard drive in the computer, I'm going to need a new case to fit this camera and the old one, the camera uses a different type of battery so I have to add a spare battery for back up, and it's going to cost me an extra $x in taxes over the next 5 years... so I need to budget for all that and not just the cost of the camera."

There is more information here and here.

Texas Form 50-144: Business Personal Property Rendition of Taxable Property