Sponsorship Questions?

[RelentlessPursuitRacing]

OK, so I am new (and a little lost) on the whole sponsorship thing. I now have a few sponsors lined up and ready to give some $$$.....but, I want to make sure I do this correctly for the tax man and such. I am planning on starting a business to write off some of the cost of the racing....Relentless Pursuit Racing, and then open a business bank account. I currently have a RACE account but it is in my personal name and they wont put a business name on it and therefore they say I cant deposit checks into it that are made out to "Relentless Pursuit Racing". So....

1) Can the "business" and the "race" account be one in the same and deposit both my money and sponsorship money into it?

2) Will I have to pay money on the sponsored money if it is part of a "business"?

3) Can I open it as a "non profit" business.

4) What does the government require for a business to sponsor me AND be able to write it off on their taxes?

5) Is there some kind of system that I am liable for to show exacty what the sponsored funds went toward?

6) Can a sponsor just write out a check payable to "Relentless Pursuit Racing OR Jerry Ornellas", and be legit to write off on their taxes?

I will also be giving a tax guy a call on Tuesday, but thought I would start here. Thank You for any help. I greatly appreciate it.

[BajaBronco13]

Thanks for the post Jerry. I was wondering those same questions. Congrats on landing some financial help for your race team. Can't wait to see you out there man.

CP

[RelentlessPursuitRacing]

OOPS. #2) should have read..."Do I have to pay TAXES on the sponsored money if the business and race account are one in the same?"

[retroblazer]

In all likelyhood you will spend far more to race than sponsorship will offset. So, no it is not likely that you will pay taxes, but you will have to file a return if the sponsor sends in a 1099m

[RelentlessPursuitRacing]

A friend saw my thread here and e-mailed me directly with the info on these books. He says they helped him in the past so I ordered them up. Here's the link if anyone wants to take a look and order their own. http://www.ssapubl.com/productList.aspx?specialty=RacingBusiness&specialty=BusinessTeamOps

[BajaBronco13]

You can also check out Amazon.com.