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That's what I thought too. I'm not selling the books. I'm purchasing the books for the students and then being paid back.

If you get audited, there could indeed be some questioning of your purchasing music at a discount and selling it at face value, if you confess to it. That price differential is taxable income. And if you were to take a deduction for your music purchases, then you surely should bother to declare the income when you resell them.

So yes, there could be some tax consequences if you want to be a boy scout or girl scout about this, never mind sales tax. In practical terms, though, I don't think it's worth bothering about. Or you can always just ask mom or dad to pay you cash for the books that you went to the trouble to obtain for them.

Piano teaching is both penny ante and a business....

Peter, you're so right. I forgot to mention that although the store gives me a small discount, we have a 9.5% sales tax, so I actually end up losing a bit of money every time I purchase books for students. Not enough to quibble about, and certainly not enough to go through all that painful book keeping crap.

This has been on my mind a lot. I actually thought about raising my registration fee this year to include books, but I ended up not doing it. It would certainly be easy and then I would have to worry about the tax consequences of "selling" the books.

John, we're quite united on this one. You and I figure we're providing a little additional service to families by procuring music books for them essentially at cost. It's not worth our bothering about taxwise.

But the more I ponder ez's good questions, the more complex they become. I think she should ask an accountant or tax preparer for some advice before she makes changes to her billing practices. Stanny has put a finger on the dilemma.

I buy the books as a favor to my students, and they reimburse me. I pay taxes on them when I purchase them, so the state is getting their cut. I am not making any profit to be taxed on.

Since I am at the music store often, it is no big deal for me to pick up the books. I don't keep much of an inventory.

Hi ezpiano~

I had some of the same problems as you before last year. The main thing is that parents can take FOREVER to get the books!

I do similar to what you are considering. I charge an $80 Registration & Materials Fee. This covers all student books for a year, plus helps cover other costs like handouts, prizes, recital fees, etc. I just deduct from it all year and never have to worry about extra billing or waiting on parents. This has worked really well for me, but yes, it does require extra bookkeeping. I keep track of all books bought for students and the cost so I know where I'm at with their fee.

It's also nice, because if a student drops out before the end of the year (happens a lot; people just don't stick with one activity anymore), I'm left with the rest to use for advertising for new students or improving the studio, etc.

I don't keep any books "in stock". I order from Prima Music (www.primamusic.com) and have them ship to my house. I end up waiting between 1 - 2 weeks, but it's still sooner than the parents getting the books and I don't have to spend 10 mins per family telling them what books to get and what they look like, etc. Prima Music is great for the reason that they give substantial discounts. The more you buy the more discount they will give. And shipping is free on every order that is at least $30 (but is the slowest shipping option). It works really well for my studio!

P.S. If you just include the Registration Fee as part of your income, then it should be fine. Then whenever you buy books that is considered an expense. Shouldn't have a problem with that. Visit Piano Adventures Forum for other advice on this same issue.. it helped me.

My teacher does it the way Peter K Mose does. She keeps a variety of method, repertoire and theory books on hand and distributes them as needed, putting the cost (with tax) on the next month's bill. If she doesn't have something on hand, she will have it for the next week's lesson. She has been teaching for over 40 years and has a finely tuned business. She's 80 yo and amazing, both in her stamina and organizational skills, as well as her playing. I fantasize about still taking lessons when I'm 80 and she's 100!

Most of the fee goes towards books. Beginner students may only use $45 of the fee for actual books whereas my early intermediate students might use closer to $55 or $60. Since I don't teach any students at an advanced level (such as the example you mentioned about the Beethoven sonatas) this fee structure works great for me. I plan my students' year out in advance, figuring as best I can what music books they'll need for the coming year. I buy most of my music at music teachers conventions, where discounts can be up to 40% off; the rest of my music at www.primamusic.com , where I get 25% plus free shipping, no sales tax. I really stretch the funds and so far it's the best system I've found.

I just have the parents prepay for the materials before I order them. The only time I ask parents to hunt down the music is when it's out of print.

I just have the parents prepay for the materials before I order them. The only time I ask parents to hunt down the music is when it's out of print.

Clearly she's a gem of a teacher, and sounds like a person without age. Those are our role models.

EZ, my view is that these two ways are about equal in terms of your work. In either case, you will have to keep a record of which books you disseminate to which student, and at what cost.

In another post, you asked about how much physical space in your studio would be required if you stock up a bunch of music materials. Not very much: at most a small bookcase worth of space. Or it could be just a stack or two of piano books sitting in a closet.

Try to imagine 2, 3, or 4 piano books, multiplied by the number of students in your studio. That's probably not a lot of space. You're not going to be running a music store.

However, if can afford it, it's fun to keep buying piano teaching materials you may or may not ever need. They'll just sit around in piles, year after year, and outgrow whatever space you have. And you'll forget you own them. And then you'll start to buy the same books twice when you get a new pupil, instead of disseminating what you already own. And pretty soon you *should* be running a small music store. Or worrying that you have become one of those hoarders we see on reality tv. Trust me on this one....