Quote Originally Posted by kevk View Post
Add to your list.

Form a LLC.
Get business insurance.
Get a Pa Tax number for your business.

Then your home and family should be protected.
While this piece of advice seems to be a "non-issue, this-doesn`t-apply-to-me-because-I`m-only-part-time-and-doing-this-for-cash", ANY detailer`s liability needs to be considered. How many vehicles you do per month (or per year) AND who you are doing for certainly has an effect on this liability.
it is one thing to do 3 or 4 cars a year for immediate family (including in-laws), but when you start detailing vehicles EVERY weekend out of your own garage for a friend-of-friend or a business associate, then you are getting into that realm of a liability issue happening.

Some municipalities had ordinances against running a "private" or "personal" business out of your home, especially in zoned neighborhoods.
Or if you are part of a neighborhood association, there may be restrictions to businesses run out of your home or at home covered by those association covenants.

Legal issues are just that: legal. They require compliance to the laws and ordinances of that municipality or community designed for the well-being and civility of all those who live in such an area. Now whether you think they are fair or decent or even if they apply to you, well, that`s your "right" to disagree. Breaking them is another issue in-and-of itself and they may have consequences.
Good example:
You may start washing a vehicle at 6:00 AM on a summer Saturday morning to begin your detailing regiment. By 6:45 it is time to dry the vehicle and you break out the Metro dryer outside in your driveway. The noise "disturbs" your usually good-natured next-door neighbor who happens to be suffering from a late night party hangover and calls the cops about it. While you can comply, now you have an "incident" on the local police file that can be accessed by the general public under an open-records law. Not good for you or your detailing business or the relationship to your near-by neighbors. (Yes, I do have that "reputation" with my neighbors, so I try to start by wash-n-dry detailing after 7:30 AM, which usually avoids any noise and disturbing the peace "issues" with them on Sunday morning in the summer.)

The tax issue is one you have to decide for yourself. You make yourself very "vulnerable to suspicion" when they see you detailing a different vehicle every weekend in your driveway. There is a lot of under-the-table, fly-by-night, cash-only "business" going on these days, especially in light of the pandemic and work-at-home. There is little enforcement on a lot of things these days.
Good example:
You buy your detailing supplies on-line because you avoid paying state sales tax on it and its just easier to procure all your needed detailing supplies and equipment this way, either because it`s done in bulk OR is is specialized equipment that just is not available at brick-and-mortar stores.
Here in Wisconsin you are "suppose" to report those on-line no-state-sales-tax purchases on your state income tax form. The state wants (and needs!) that 5% you did not pay. Are you going to report that for the state you live in??? What are the chances that your state Department of Revenue will look and check you financial records that you bought $1,000 of detailing items from the Autopia Store with your credit card? Do they REALLY "need" that $50? Is it even "worth" their time to go after it? There`s a pretty obvious answer to that question. Hopefully you never get a letter from your state Department of Revenue about that.
It`s probably true about your Cash-Only business and "reporting" that income on your federal (and state!) income tax forms. Just don`t upset the neighbors so much that they call the cops and then an investigation begins. Your well-intended supplemental income detailing enterprise may come to a screeching halt.