Actors, directors and performers are unique when it comes to the world of taxes. We specialize in the acting profession, providing advice on the special tax rules that apply to individual actors, groups of performers and companies.

With over 10 years experience working with thousands of actors, we are truly expert in your field. We offer friendly, easy to understand advice and support that cannot be beaten.

Professionals in the creative industry are often considered ‘self-employed’ or working as a company for tax purposes. For legal and taxpaying purposes this means that your ‘business’ as a performer and you as an individual taxpayer are one and the same. In this instance, performers would file a ‘Schedule C’ as part of their 1040 income tax return form. As a performer you may also file a form 8829 to claim your home as an office deduction and will be required to pay self-employment tax (Schedule SE) on their net income (profit) as well as federal income tax.

Self-employed performers are usually required to pay ‘estimated tax’ quarterly on a 1040-ES form. This is only required if the tax liability exceeds $1,000.

If a performer has extensive W-2 income they may also have expenses that will be deducted on Federal Form 2106. This means that a performer with both W-2 and self-employment income will have to separate or allocate expenses between the 2 types of income.

What is deductible?

With expert creative industry tax advise you can lower your tax by thousands. Actors, directors and performers have a number of tax deductions that are unique. For the IRS, all tax-deductible expenses must be:

1.     Incurred in connection with your trade, business or profession

2.     Be ordinary and necessary

3.     Must not be lavish or extravagant under the circumstance.

Contact us for more expert US tax advice for creative professionals