<prompt> Human: First of all, I apologize if this is not the best sub for this topic, and would gladly accept recommendations for a better one.So a little background: when my wife and I had our first baby 4 years ago, my wife ended up staying home and starting a small business re-selling childrens clothes on eBay. She had dreams of opening a retail shop and even started a business plan, but nothing ever materialized and the business never made much profit, and definitely not enough to be worth the time spent. At some point last year she got into sewing and started trying her hand at making childrens clothes herself. She opened an etsy shop and this year has taken off significantly and we are at the point that we basically HAVE to file taxes including the business income and expenses. I am 34 and have used software to file my taxes myself for my whole life, so I have no experience paying someone to help.So, what do we look for when seeking out a tax professional? And what can we expect? I would like to talk to someone and explain the details of our situation and get some guidance and advice without paying a large fee upfront like, less than 50 is that unreasonable? And then if we use them to file our personal and business, if she gets a license... taxes I know that would probably be a few hundred?I dont want to get ripped off, or make bad taxbusiness decisions. For reference we are in the Silicon Valley.Thanks.Assistant: Thats the thing, we have never even itemized our personal taxes before, always take the standard deduction. She has NOT kept any books so far, and needs help to catch up before January...Were not even sure what our options are, to itemize and wrap it into our personal taxes, or file for a business licensetax id... we just need someone who can look at our overall situation and point us in the right direction.  <response>: You dont need a license to sell clothes. You dont need a separate tax ID EIN unless you a have employees on payroll or b have a separate business entity like a corporation or partnership. Your wife can do business in her name or under a DBA filed with your state and report all the income and expenses on your joint 1040.Look up 1040 schedule C. Thats where the business income will be reported and business expenses deducted. Also look up schedule SE. Self-employment tax will apply.If you want to run the business like a real separate entity a good idea in general, then apply to the IRS for an EIN easy, start a single-member LLC or just a DBA sole-proprietor with your state moderately easy, open a business checking account in the businesss name with your new EIN easy, and fund the account with enough working capital to handle the businesss cash flow needs. Get Quickbooks and keep accurate books for the business separate from your own finances.Schedule C business deductions are separate from itemized Schedule A deductions. If the standard deduction still makes sense for you thats fine.Any decent CPA can handle this for you in their sleep, but personally I think there is immense value to you in understanding how it all works even if you choose to have professional help. 