For wedding, portrait and commercial photographers and videographers. Your books done the day you upload your statements, checked against your bank, for $79 a month.
Free to join. The first 1,000 in get their catch-up free.
Sales tax
Minnesota's sales tax is 6.875%, and cities and counties add their own, about 8.14% in all on average. If what you sell is taxable, you collect it and file returns with the state.
State income tax
Minnesota taxes income at 5.35% to 9.85% in 2026, including the profit from your business.
Federal tax
Working for yourself, you pay 15.3% self-employment tax on most of your profit, plus federal income tax, usually in four estimated payments: April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15.
Contractors
Paid a contractor $2,000 or more in 2026? Send them a 1099-NEC by January 31.
What every business in St. Paul (about 310,000 people) keeps track of in 2026. Rates change, so check with your accountant before you file.
Photographers in St. Paul, by the numbers
Ramsey County, home to St. Paul, has 35 photography businesses with employees (Census Bureau, 2023).
That's 30% more than in 2018 (27).
Another 465 are run by one person with no employees, mostly self-employed owners.
Across Minnesota there are 355 with employees, so about 10% are in Ramsey County.
Every one of them has books to keep: sales to match to the bank, costs to sort and tax to work out.
Why photographers need different books
Deposits taken months before the shoot, expensive gear that lasts years, travel to every job, prints and albums next to session fees, and software subscriptions. Deposits are the tricky part: the money arrives long before the work is done.
What a bookkeeper for photographers in St. Paul keeps track of
Booking deposits and final payments
Cameras, lenses and computers
Travel to shoots
Prints and albums
Software and subscriptions
Taxes for photographers in Minnesota
Prints and products in Minnesota are taxed at 6.875% plus local tax; check whether Minnesota taxes the session fee too.
Prints and albums are usually taxable where there's a sales tax; some states tax photography services too.
Camera gear can often be written off in the year you buy it.
Second shooters you pay $2,000 or more in 2026 need a 1099-NEC.
What SumSwift does for photographers and videographers, for $79 a month
Booking deposits and retainers applied to the final invoice
Big purchases get one question, "Is this equipment?", so they're written off over the right years
Invoices made, emailed and chased in SumSwift, with a pay link your customers can use
A mileage log (a CRA logbook in Canada) and the business share of your vehicle worked out for taxes
Subscriptions watched for price rises
Every statement checked against the balances your bank printed, to the cent, with personal spending kept off your profit
Up to 3 accounts included. Prices in USD. Your accountant still files your tax return, with clean books and free access.
Questions.
How much does a bookkeeper for photographers cost in St. Paul?
Published price guides put most small businesses at $300 to $1,500 a month for a bookkeeper, more when the books are busy, as they often are for photographers. SumSwift does the monthly work for $79 a month, the day you upload your statements.
How do I handle wedding deposits?
SumSwift keeps them as retainers and applies them to the final invoice, so you always know what's left to pay.
Can I write off my camera?
Yes, over the years it's used or sooner where the rules allow. SumSwift asks once whether a big purchase is equipment.
Does SumSwift know Minnesota's tax rules?
Prints and products in Minnesota are taxed at 6.875% plus local tax; check whether Minnesota taxes the session fee too. Prints and albums are usually taxable where there's a sales tax; some states tax photography services too.
Behind on my books. Can you catch me up?
Yes. A catch-up of up to 12 months is $599, once, checked against your bank to the cent.