Bookkeeping for photographers

Money that arrives before the work

Most businesses get paid after the job. Photographers often get paid long before it. Take Lena, who shoots weddings and family sessions. In February, a couple books her for a September wedding and pays a $1,500 retainer. In March, three more couples do the same. By the end of spring she has $6,000 in the bank for work she will not do until autumn, and the camera body she needs for that work has not been bought yet.

On the cash basis, which almost every solo photographer uses, a retainer is income on the day it lands. It does not wait for the wedding. That has two consequences. A December full of bookings for next year raises this year’s tax. And the bank balance in spring looks healthier than the business really is, because part of it is a promise to show up later.

The answer is not a different accounting method. It is a simple list. In Righto, enter the balance each couple still owes as a receivable when you sign the contract. Then you can see, in one place, what is booked, what is paid and what is still to come. The income is still counted when the money arrives, as Publication 334 describes for cash-basis businesses.

Refunds, reschedules and the retainer you keep

Weddings move. Couples split. When you refund part of a retainer, record the refund as negative income against the same booking, on the day it leaves your account. Do not delete or edit the original payment. Both events happened, and both belong in the record. If the refund crosses a tax year, so that you took the retainer in 2026 and refund it in 2027, the refund belongs in 2027. Tell your preparer.

A non-refundable retainer you keep after a cancellation is simply income. Nothing more to do.

The gear question

Photography is a gear business, and gear is where the tax rules matter most.

The IRS lets a small business deduct an item or invoice of $2,500 or less in the year of purchase, under the de minimis safe harbor in the tangible property regulations. You make the election with a statement on your return each year. So an $1,800 portrait lens, a $600 speedlight kit or a $400 set of stands is a supplies expense on line 22, in the year you buy it.

Items over that limit go on line 13, depreciation. A $3,900 camera body or a $4,200 lens is in this group. Section 179 or bonus depreciation can often let you deduct most or all of the cost in the first year, but the choice affects later years, and the rules change. Publication 946 has the details. Record the purchase with its date, price and serial number, and let your preparer choose.

Two more points. If you sell old gear, the sale is not plain income; it is the sale of a business asset, and what you deducted on it matters. Keep the original receipt until you sell. And if the family uses the camera on holiday, only the business share is deductible. Most working bodies never leave the bag except for jobs, which makes this easy. Note it if that is true.

Equipment insurance goes on line 15. A lens you rent for one weekend goes on line 20a. Studio rent goes on line 20b.

Prints, albums and sales tax

Session fees are services. Prints, albums and canvases are products. That difference matters twice.

First, what you pay the lab for products you sell goes into Part III, cost of goods sold, not supplies. Righto does not track inventory counts, which is fine for most photographers, because they order prints for a specific client and hold no stock. If you do keep frames or albums on a shelf, keep a short count at year-end for your preparer.

Second, many states charge sales tax on prints and products, and some charge it on the session fee too. Rules differ widely. Check with your state tax agency, and use the sales tax tool to work out the amount on a package.

Second shooters and assistants

A second shooter or assistant you pay, who is not your employee, goes on line 11, contract labor. Get a Form W-9 before the first job. For payments made in 2026, you need to send a Form 1099-NEC to anyone you paid $2,000 or more for services by check or bank transfer. Before 2026 the threshold was $600. Payments by card or through a payment app are usually reported by the app instead.

Eight weddings at $300 each is $2,400. That crosses the line, and it is the most common 1099 that photographers forget.

Miles and travel

Every drive to a shoot, a venue walk-through or the lab is business. For 2026, the standard mileage rate is 72.5 cents a mile from January 1 to June 30 and 76 cents a mile from July 1 (IRS Announcement 2026-11). Since wedding season runs across that date, keep your log with dates, and total the two halves separately. The mileage tool does the math. Publication 463 explains the rules, including actual costs as the alternative.

A destination wedding adds flights and hotels on line 24a, and meals while you are away, usually at 50%, on line 24b. Parking and tolls go on line 9 with the miles.

One season in numbers

Here is Lena’s year, simplified.

The miles are 1,100 × $0.725 plus 1,800 × $0.76. Self-employment tax is about $58,344.50 × 0.9235 × 0.153, roughly $8,244, before income tax. Lena tags every cost with the shoot, so she can also see that her family sessions earn more per hour than she thought, and that one venue two hours away barely paid for the drive.

Setting money aside in a seasonal business

Wedding photographers earn most of their money in a few months. Estimated tax payments come four times a year anyway. The estimated tax dates page lists them, and Publication 505 explains the safe harbors and the annualized method for uneven income.

Move a fixed share of every payment, retainers included, to a separate savings account the day it arrives. Many photographers use 25 to 30 percent. Then run the cash runway tool in November with your fixed costs: insurance, software, the studio. It tells you how many quiet months you can carry before the spring bookings start.

Common mistakes

• Leaving retainers out of the year they arrived. They are income when they land.
• Expensing a $3,900 body as supplies. It is over the de minimis limit, so it goes to depreciation.
• No log for the miles. A season of venues adds up to thousands of dollars.
• Forgetting the second shooter’s 1099. Small fees add up past $2,000.
• Treating prints as supplies. Products you sell go into cost of goods sold.

A routine between shoots

Each week, on a quiet weekday:

1. Import your bank and card statements. Righto reads CSV, OFX and QFX files, and PDF statements, including scanned ones read on your Mac (importing statements).
2. Let rules handle the repeats: the lab, the software, the insurance.
3. Add the shoot name to each new cost, and log the week’s miles.

Each month, reconcile to the bank statement and check which couples still owe a final payment.

What to hand your preparer

Righto’s year-end package gives a cash-basis profit and loss by Schedule C line, the detail behind it and your reconciliations. Add:

• A gear list for the year, with dates, prices and serial numbers
• Your mileage log, split before and after July 1
• Any 1099-NEC or 1099-K forms you received
• Copies of 1099-NEC forms you sent to second shooters, and their W-9s
• Refunds of prior-year retainers
• Estimated tax payments, with dates
• A year-end count of any products you hold

When a cost does not fit an obvious line, the Schedule C categories tool and the Schedule C instructions help. If you want a hand with the weekly part, you can connect your own AI agent at an access level you choose (agents). Every change it makes is recorded and can be undone.

General information, not advice for your situation. Ask a tax professional about your own return.