CT Income Tax laws stoping my pen turning.

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ctwxlvr

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Well I am just getting started in Pen turning and have been a avid woodworker for 30 or so years, after a divorce 7 years ago,I finally have a chance to get back into it and thought I would try making some pens and giving a few away and attempting to sell some. Sounds good so far, so I e-file my taxes on the 15th of January and on the 18th of January I receive a bill from 2002 for past due taxes, and that if I don't appeal they will with hold that amount from my refund.

Ok follow me so far. Jump a little ahead ... so I have about $300 extra from my Febuary 15th pay period and talking to the Department of Revenue services it should take about two weeks from accepting my e-file till I get my refund so I order a lathe, turning chisels, wood(20 apple,5 black loctus and 100 sassafras blanks), CA, and expecting my refund around the end of February it will allow me to buy a few pen kits and the other tools I will need and tide me over a couple of planned short paydays so today I call the DRS to check on my refund and I find out due to a CT law they have to hold the entire refund for the full length of the appeal time limit even if I write a letter call or what ever saying I am not appealing the amount owed from 2002.

So it looks like we will be living on $60 for the next month or so after necessary bills are paid. Any chance of getting a few pens ready for the beginning of the craft show season here has just flown out the window, hope to be able to post a few pens some time in April which is when the amount due me as a refund is released. We might be able to hit the fall craft shows in the area as there are very few summer shows here.

I am not "whining" or looking for handouts!!! We will survive just a major setback caused by weird tax laws.

CTWxLvr

(edited for readability)
 
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If you want to establish a good reputation...I advise you to practice a lot, perfect your finish and fit BEFORE selling anything. My first pens are descent but looking back, I am glad I didn't attempt to sell any of them. My first 100 or so pens are almost all giveaways. The next 50 were mix 70% giveaway/30% sold. Most of the ones after that are sold.

Ofcourse, this is just an advise and you can choose to ignore it.

Good luck!!!
 
Thank you for the advice and I know it works it is what I did with my websites(see link below), I am not one that likes the new "flash" pages because a lot of my clients are small business farms that are on dial-up and their clients are on dial-up so if a page takes too long to display they tend to move on. (sorry for the ramble)

I am planning for the first 200 or so pens to be give aways. I will be perfecting my style and learning the new finishing techniques used, the last wood project I did was a larch coffee table finished in wax so the natural aroma would be noticeable.

CTWxLvr
http://wareagleenterprises.com
 
Another advise...find your durable finish now and perfect it...maybe you can start selling much earlier.

Mine is CA...others prefer lacquer or enduro. Just something to look at.
 
I plan on using CA for most, and WAX for a few, the wax is for the aromatic woods, like cedar, sassafras, camphor. I know the aroma is not strong but it is still there. I am working on doing a few turnings using the less desirable blanks I have ... little or no grain and plain color and doing a CA finish on them. I have been out of practice turning for about 7 years and you loose a lot in that amount of time like sharpening chisels (insert string of explicit language here) the skew chisel is a pain to sharpen it is oval in shape, part of a set. So I turn, sharpen (insert string of explicit language here) turn some more sharpen .... dang apple is hard.
 
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