Anybody know the guidelines for determining what falls under the IRS description of conducting business as an individual artist? What can and cannot be deducted throughout the day? At what point does Angelina Jolie the taxpayer become separate from Angelina Jolie the entertainer doing her job? When she has an ongoing project?
At what point does the IRS consider you goofing off?
- Thread starter Kingda Ka
- Start date
You should speak to a tax specialist for that, and one who has a sub-specialty in tax law as it relates to entertainment law.
Ummmmm I have ZERO experience with filing for taxes. My extent of tax knowledge goes to setting up my LLC for a game studio (which tax wise is handled by a hired accountant) and filling out my payroll information for work lol...
Buuuuuttttt the way I handle my expenses when it comes to being a game designer... Say I go to a convention and I spend money on a hotel, food, inventory, handouts, employees, etc... during that time period. I will keep a record (receipts if possible) of all that and when the time comes, which is October where I filled my LLC, I will make sure that my accountant has all my expenses prepared to put into the tax forms.
So my advise is this... keep track of all film expenses very precisely, then when you file your individual taxes at the end of the tax year, simply hand all that information over to the people you pay to do your taxes (H&R Block or whoever you use), they will know if you can deduct it as expenses and whatnot. Or of course you could hire a personal accountant.
Buuuuuttttt the way I handle my expenses when it comes to being a game designer... Say I go to a convention and I spend money on a hotel, food, inventory, handouts, employees, etc... during that time period. I will keep a record (receipts if possible) of all that and when the time comes, which is October where I filled my LLC, I will make sure that my accountant has all my expenses prepared to put into the tax forms.
So my advise is this... keep track of all film expenses very precisely, then when you file your individual taxes at the end of the tax year, simply hand all that information over to the people you pay to do your taxes (H&R Block or whoever you use), they will know if you can deduct it as expenses and whatnot. Or of course you could hire a personal accountant.
I deduct expenses. But I don't quite understand what you mean which
is why I didn't answer.
I have no idea what Angelina Jolie does about her taxes.
I have no idea what the IRS considers goofing off.
The list of what can and cannot be deducted is different depending on
many things. An accountant can better answer that for you. For a long
time I had a business. Now I'm a freelancer. The deductions are different.
Be sure to keep good records and be able to justify expenses so they can be shown solely related to your business. If you are showing a small profit, it helps to show that it is a legitimate business. The IRS doesn't allow you to go forever deducting expenses and keep losing money.