Make an LLC. Open a business checking account. Link your personal account.
Buy pet sitting insurance through PCI.
Pay all expenses from the business account. Pay yourself personally from there as well.
Pay quarterly estimated taxes. It’s easy enough and it’s the “right way”to do things
If you make over like $70 or $80k there’s a benefit to having an llc filed as an s corp. basically you can save like half on social security and Medicare tax. I use collective and they do all my bookkeeping and file my business and personal taxes. It’s really convenient I’m not even plugging a referral code
>basically you can save like half on social security and Medicare tax.
An S corp "saves half" on SE tax since they classify part of the earnings as salary and the rest as "profit" usually people do a 60/40 split. The 40% "profit" portion is NOT subject to SE tax. However, doesnt working on rover classify you as a 1099 contractor? As such, isnt 1099 income NOT allowed to be split between wages vs profit and all must be classified as "wages"?
I've done all this as a sole proprietor. If I was working with others I'd probably form an LLC but as it's just me I don't need a more complex business structure like a LLC or Incorporation even with insurance and a business checking account. That said, this is gig work to me and not full time work. It's only me. If I decided to get big and hire employees then I might do something more complex, but my opinion is that gig work is meant to supplement other work. I do three different gigs when the pay is right and it fits my schedule. If I create a business as a boarder or start walking multiple dogs at the same time or having multiple walkers beyond myself then I might see the need to have that more complex business structure. For me though simple is simpler. Nothing wrong with sole proprietorship if the structure works for you and you don't need more complexity and costs.
Even if you only do it as supplemental income, it only takes one unfortunate incident for someone to sue you and an LLC would protect your personal assets since they can only go after the funds in your business account instead of personal accounts and property.
Hi! I know this post is from forever ago but I have some questions. I take a lot of off Rover bookings and my expenses right now are just gas and mileage. I checked the IRS site and it says it’s 65.5 cents/mileage right now. So is this all I would write off if I did open my an LLC and a business account? I’ve been wanting to purchase some stuff like lint rollers, poop bags, etc. but didn’t know if I could write it off if I didn’t have an LLC. Right now I’ve just been doing it from my own bank account and writing down all my bookings, how much I charged, and mileage. I see the debate between propriety and LLC so that’s also something I’m confused about.
Sorry in advance, I’m very confused 🫠
I’m thinking of doing this as well. I feel it’s important to have insurance incase a dog attacks me, other wise rover looks the other way and doesn’t support their sitters whatsoever
You DO NOT need to "open a business" to legally sell your services as a pet sitter. You watching your neighbors dog for money is identical (in the eyes of the government) to a kid mowing his neighbors lawn for money. Neither of you "need a business" to do freelance\contract work for people... As long as you pay taxes.
>I’ve seen a couple commenters talking about having their own private business for pet sitting.
You definitely should be taking clients outside of Rover, but there is little reason to open an LLC to do so.
IF you really want to do this more officially, go ahead and make a business, but make it a sole proprietorship, not an LLC.
With a sole proprietorship, you get your business name on checks... And not much else. With or without a sole proprietorship you can deduct business expenses, accept money, pay people, get insurance, and so on. (You also get an EIN number which allows you to open "business" accounts for phones and banks... But they aren't any better than non business accounts)
The reason to file your business as an LLC is mainly to reduce your tax burden... But you pay much more to file your taxes and to incorporate. So unless you're making more than 50k a year it will probably be hard for your tax burden to be reduced enough to make financial sense.
LLC's also, by definition, limit your liability... But so does insurance, which you should have regardless.
>But I’m hearing how Rover doesn’t cover a lot and obviously the **20% fee is a lot**
It definitely is, so don't you for a second feel bad about taking work outside of Rover
>when you add in like 30% for taxes.
Que? What is 30% for taxes? I'm not sure what you're referring to here, but there is absolutely no chance of you(or any pet sitter) owing 30% of their income to the IRS.
>Plus now I’m looking at insurance outside of rover.
Very good call. You should probably get this insurance now for what you do in Rover, because I'm pretty sure Rover covers property damage and pet injuries but not the sitter.
>Would it be worth creating like an LLC or similar for my business? I’m getting a good amount of consistent clients and I see myself doing this long term in conjunction with wfh. For those who have their own business, is it worth it? Thoughts?
An LLC? No.
A sole proprietorship? Yes (even though you don't need one to legally take freelance\contract work).
It's probably a good idea to go for the sole proprietorship... If it's not crazy expensive to file.
Whether you do or not. You should use wave accounting (wavespps.com) for your invoicing. It is totally free browser-based financial accounting software. They also allow you to take payments through your invoices. Wave also has a ton of other stuff like if you wanted to track and itemize your business and personal finances, or run end of the year reports(I mostly just use their invoicing).
If you do go the sole proprietorship route, get a bank that offers a completely free business checking account. Might want to research the best one for you, but I know smallbusinessbank.com is basically free.
I am a pet sitter who is not a lawyer or a CPA, but feel free to ask me any questions if you have them. Best of luck.
You are overlooking a major difference between an LLC and a self proprietor. If a client were to sue you, as a sole proprietor they can go after everything you own (assuming it is justified), vs an LLC, they can only go after the LLC.
It's a massive difference. And well worth the nominal fee to setup an LLC.
Setup the LLC as an S corp and the net income flows directly to your income. If it loses money, you can deduct the losses from your other income (if you have any).
Also, Rover does not cover property damage. Only injuries to pets in the booking.
The protections afforded by incorporating are overblown.
>If a client were to sue you, as a sole proprietor they can go after everything you own
By this logic, every sole proprietorship out there is foolishly gambling all their assets by not incorporating! Which is simply not the case.
That's all. There are some protections afforded by incorporating, but I don't think it is worth the cost.
But I'm NAL... So yeah, take my words with some salt.
The protections are not overblown.
A dog gets loose and attacks a toddler. If you are an SP they sue *you*. Everything you own can be taken to pay their medical bills. You could go bankrupt.
If you are an LLC, they sue the LLC. And can only get assets the LLC owns. Big difference.
"By this logic, every sole proprietorship out there is foolishly gambling all their assets by not incorporating! Which is simply not the case."
It is the case. *Any* SP puts all of their assets at risk. And, yes, it is foolish to not setup an LLC or some type of other protective business entity to avoid the risk.
They could also go after any assets in joint accounts. So if you shared a large account with your spouse to pay the mortgage, bills, fund retirement, etc, they could go after those funds too.
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to check out our [Sitter FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/RoverPetSitting/wiki/sitterfaq). Additionally, here's our
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Well, if you’re doing for it to shield yourself from liability which is the most common reason people get incorporated, it’s irrelevant for Rover as both parties interact with Rover as individuals. If it’s for private off app there could be merits but we can’t discuss it here per these subreddit rules.
I have llc and all money from rover deposited to my business checking account. I file taxes as S-corp, and rover fees is my business expense. Rover is just a booking platform just like any other.
And that’s an accounting/tax reason. However, unless you have a separate legal agreement with the Rover parent, and have signed up to to Rover as LLC, you still have personal liability and are not shielded. Which again comes back to the reason for the LLC.
Do you have any legal binding agreement as a person with rover? The only legal agreement there is - is terms of service here it is
[link](https://www.rover.com/terms/tos/) all sitters there are “service providers”. You might find a lot of interesting there if you fully read it.
Yes I sign contact with all clients.
Ps. This past winter I had an accident and talk from my own experience after consulting with 2 different attorneys.
If you feel like you know better please keep doing what you do. I am happy with my llc.
That‘s my point exactly. You‘re providing pet care services to the parent via Rover as James A, not as “Cuddles Are Us”, unless you‘ve both signed an agreement to the contrary. So if something does happen the parent can sue James A.
You are so wrong, and don’t have full understanding of how the service works. You might want to read TOS and consult with an attorney to have a better understanding. Good luck with your business.
There is almost 0 liability to dog boarding beyond the cost of the actual dog, unless you want to talk about an aggressive dog causing an injury to someone else which can be almost 100% avoided if you don’t walk the dog / take it off of your own property where it would come into contact with others. People have all kinds of ideas there’s some sort of lawsuit that you could be liable for a dog dying and the bottom line is unless it’s a champion show dog, small claims court is going to give the person a few hundred bucks for their dead/injured dog. As long as you didn’t abuse the dog in a criminal manner so egregiously the DA takes you on, I’m not sure what you think is going to happen.
Right, what I’m saying is if you went to court to try to recoup those costs you would have to be able to show breach of duty and negligence *per se*. It’s going to be extremely difficult to prove that in court particularly for a small home sitter versus a corporate facility where the understanding is the dog is locked behind multiple layers of security with a full staff. When the owner enters into a home-based care agreement a minor mistake that anyone could make is not going to be enough to show negligence. Not just a like the dog quickly running out and being hit by a car or chewing a toy and getting obstructed. It would have to be really egregious like leaving the dog out in the 100° sun all day to severely dehydrate (and you have physical evidence). You have to “fail to act within a reasonably prudent way.”
If you don’t plan on doing something like that you can rest easy lol. It’s not as if the court doesn’t take into account that the owner chose to put their dog in a normal house where normal, albeit unfortunate, things can happen.
Make an LLC. Open a business checking account. Link your personal account. Buy pet sitting insurance through PCI. Pay all expenses from the business account. Pay yourself personally from there as well. Pay quarterly estimated taxes. It’s easy enough and it’s the “right way”to do things
Second this. It was pretty easy and inexpensive to do.
If you make over like $70 or $80k there’s a benefit to having an llc filed as an s corp. basically you can save like half on social security and Medicare tax. I use collective and they do all my bookkeeping and file my business and personal taxes. It’s really convenient I’m not even plugging a referral code
>basically you can save like half on social security and Medicare tax. An S corp "saves half" on SE tax since they classify part of the earnings as salary and the rest as "profit" usually people do a 60/40 split. The 40% "profit" portion is NOT subject to SE tax. However, doesnt working on rover classify you as a 1099 contractor? As such, isnt 1099 income NOT allowed to be split between wages vs profit and all must be classified as "wages"?
I read on collective that their service is $300 per month. Has it been worth it?
Wonderful, thank you so much for the advice!
Thank you for spelling this out. Just opened my LLC in April! Planning to do this.
I've done all this as a sole proprietor. If I was working with others I'd probably form an LLC but as it's just me I don't need a more complex business structure like a LLC or Incorporation even with insurance and a business checking account. That said, this is gig work to me and not full time work. It's only me. If I decided to get big and hire employees then I might do something more complex, but my opinion is that gig work is meant to supplement other work. I do three different gigs when the pay is right and it fits my schedule. If I create a business as a boarder or start walking multiple dogs at the same time or having multiple walkers beyond myself then I might see the need to have that more complex business structure. For me though simple is simpler. Nothing wrong with sole proprietorship if the structure works for you and you don't need more complexity and costs.
Even if you only do it as supplemental income, it only takes one unfortunate incident for someone to sue you and an LLC would protect your personal assets since they can only go after the funds in your business account instead of personal accounts and property.
Huge help. Thank you!
Hi! I know this post is from forever ago but I have some questions. I take a lot of off Rover bookings and my expenses right now are just gas and mileage. I checked the IRS site and it says it’s 65.5 cents/mileage right now. So is this all I would write off if I did open my an LLC and a business account? I’ve been wanting to purchase some stuff like lint rollers, poop bags, etc. but didn’t know if I could write it off if I didn’t have an LLC. Right now I’ve just been doing it from my own bank account and writing down all my bookings, how much I charged, and mileage. I see the debate between propriety and LLC so that’s also something I’m confused about. Sorry in advance, I’m very confused 🫠
Thanks! Have considered this...
I’m thinking of doing this as well. I feel it’s important to have insurance incase a dog attacks me, other wise rover looks the other way and doesn’t support their sitters whatsoever
Abso Freaking Lutely.
You DO NOT need to "open a business" to legally sell your services as a pet sitter. You watching your neighbors dog for money is identical (in the eyes of the government) to a kid mowing his neighbors lawn for money. Neither of you "need a business" to do freelance\contract work for people... As long as you pay taxes. >I’ve seen a couple commenters talking about having their own private business for pet sitting. You definitely should be taking clients outside of Rover, but there is little reason to open an LLC to do so. IF you really want to do this more officially, go ahead and make a business, but make it a sole proprietorship, not an LLC. With a sole proprietorship, you get your business name on checks... And not much else. With or without a sole proprietorship you can deduct business expenses, accept money, pay people, get insurance, and so on. (You also get an EIN number which allows you to open "business" accounts for phones and banks... But they aren't any better than non business accounts) The reason to file your business as an LLC is mainly to reduce your tax burden... But you pay much more to file your taxes and to incorporate. So unless you're making more than 50k a year it will probably be hard for your tax burden to be reduced enough to make financial sense. LLC's also, by definition, limit your liability... But so does insurance, which you should have regardless. >But I’m hearing how Rover doesn’t cover a lot and obviously the **20% fee is a lot** It definitely is, so don't you for a second feel bad about taking work outside of Rover >when you add in like 30% for taxes. Que? What is 30% for taxes? I'm not sure what you're referring to here, but there is absolutely no chance of you(or any pet sitter) owing 30% of their income to the IRS. >Plus now I’m looking at insurance outside of rover. Very good call. You should probably get this insurance now for what you do in Rover, because I'm pretty sure Rover covers property damage and pet injuries but not the sitter. >Would it be worth creating like an LLC or similar for my business? I’m getting a good amount of consistent clients and I see myself doing this long term in conjunction with wfh. For those who have their own business, is it worth it? Thoughts? An LLC? No. A sole proprietorship? Yes (even though you don't need one to legally take freelance\contract work). It's probably a good idea to go for the sole proprietorship... If it's not crazy expensive to file. Whether you do or not. You should use wave accounting (wavespps.com) for your invoicing. It is totally free browser-based financial accounting software. They also allow you to take payments through your invoices. Wave also has a ton of other stuff like if you wanted to track and itemize your business and personal finances, or run end of the year reports(I mostly just use their invoicing). If you do go the sole proprietorship route, get a bank that offers a completely free business checking account. Might want to research the best one for you, but I know smallbusinessbank.com is basically free. I am a pet sitter who is not a lawyer or a CPA, but feel free to ask me any questions if you have them. Best of luck.
30% is the generally recommended amount to set aside for taxes if you're working as an independent contractor..
You are overlooking a major difference between an LLC and a self proprietor. If a client were to sue you, as a sole proprietor they can go after everything you own (assuming it is justified), vs an LLC, they can only go after the LLC. It's a massive difference. And well worth the nominal fee to setup an LLC. Setup the LLC as an S corp and the net income flows directly to your income. If it loses money, you can deduct the losses from your other income (if you have any). Also, Rover does not cover property damage. Only injuries to pets in the booking.
The protections afforded by incorporating are overblown. >If a client were to sue you, as a sole proprietor they can go after everything you own By this logic, every sole proprietorship out there is foolishly gambling all their assets by not incorporating! Which is simply not the case. That's all. There are some protections afforded by incorporating, but I don't think it is worth the cost. But I'm NAL... So yeah, take my words with some salt.
The protections are not overblown. A dog gets loose and attacks a toddler. If you are an SP they sue *you*. Everything you own can be taken to pay their medical bills. You could go bankrupt. If you are an LLC, they sue the LLC. And can only get assets the LLC owns. Big difference. "By this logic, every sole proprietorship out there is foolishly gambling all their assets by not incorporating! Which is simply not the case." It is the case. *Any* SP puts all of their assets at risk. And, yes, it is foolish to not setup an LLC or some type of other protective business entity to avoid the risk.
They could also go after any assets in joint accounts. So if you shared a large account with your spouse to pay the mortgage, bills, fund retirement, etc, they could go after those funds too.
Thank you for posting to r/RoverPetSitting, an unofficial forum to discuss all things Rover. We see that you have posted a sitter question. In case they could be helpful, you might want to check out our [Sitter FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/RoverPetSitting/wiki/sitterfaq). Additionally, here's our [booking walk-through for Sitters](https://www.reddit.com/r/RoverPetSitting/wiki/sitterbookingwalkthrough), which explains the process for giving services on Rover from start to finish. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/RoverPetSitting) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yes.
Are you asking for Rover bookings or off app?
How does it change anything?
Well, if you’re doing for it to shield yourself from liability which is the most common reason people get incorporated, it’s irrelevant for Rover as both parties interact with Rover as individuals. If it’s for private off app there could be merits but we can’t discuss it here per these subreddit rules.
I have llc and all money from rover deposited to my business checking account. I file taxes as S-corp, and rover fees is my business expense. Rover is just a booking platform just like any other.
And that’s an accounting/tax reason. However, unless you have a separate legal agreement with the Rover parent, and have signed up to to Rover as LLC, you still have personal liability and are not shielded. Which again comes back to the reason for the LLC.
That’s incorrect.
Do you have an any kind of legal binding agreement with the client as a corporation or LLC?
Do you have any legal binding agreement as a person with rover? The only legal agreement there is - is terms of service here it is [link](https://www.rover.com/terms/tos/) all sitters there are “service providers”. You might find a lot of interesting there if you fully read it. Yes I sign contact with all clients. Ps. This past winter I had an accident and talk from my own experience after consulting with 2 different attorneys. If you feel like you know better please keep doing what you do. I am happy with my llc.
That‘s my point exactly. You‘re providing pet care services to the parent via Rover as James A, not as “Cuddles Are Us”, unless you‘ve both signed an agreement to the contrary. So if something does happen the parent can sue James A.
You are so wrong, and don’t have full understanding of how the service works. You might want to read TOS and consult with an attorney to have a better understanding. Good luck with your business.
Sue for what? What are their damages?
This is not true. Stripe through rover pays to my LLC, NOT to me.
They don't need one.
There is almost 0 liability to dog boarding beyond the cost of the actual dog, unless you want to talk about an aggressive dog causing an injury to someone else which can be almost 100% avoided if you don’t walk the dog / take it off of your own property where it would come into contact with others. People have all kinds of ideas there’s some sort of lawsuit that you could be liable for a dog dying and the bottom line is unless it’s a champion show dog, small claims court is going to give the person a few hundred bucks for their dead/injured dog. As long as you didn’t abuse the dog in a criminal manner so egregiously the DA takes you on, I’m not sure what you think is going to happen.
[удалено]
Right, what I’m saying is if you went to court to try to recoup those costs you would have to be able to show breach of duty and negligence *per se*. It’s going to be extremely difficult to prove that in court particularly for a small home sitter versus a corporate facility where the understanding is the dog is locked behind multiple layers of security with a full staff. When the owner enters into a home-based care agreement a minor mistake that anyone could make is not going to be enough to show negligence. Not just a like the dog quickly running out and being hit by a car or chewing a toy and getting obstructed. It would have to be really egregious like leaving the dog out in the 100° sun all day to severely dehydrate (and you have physical evidence). You have to “fail to act within a reasonably prudent way.” If you don’t plan on doing something like that you can rest easy lol. It’s not as if the court doesn’t take into account that the owner chose to put their dog in a normal house where normal, albeit unfortunate, things can happen.
For someone that doesn't think that Rover sitters are employees, you have interesting thoughts on why LLCs don't carry over.
No. Source?
You don't understand the rules.
What’s an LLC? I’m in Australia and haven’t heard this term.
Limited liability corporation. It's basically the simplest\cheapest way to incorporate a business.