Filed my taxes this morning. NGL: 2011 was a good year. My accountant even remarked, “Wow. It looks like you’ve been working a lot.”
Why yes, I have. Here’s what she was able to write off for me:
- Home office and utilities.{{1}}
- My iPhone 4
- Mac OS X Snow Leopard
- Gas, oil changes, new tires, car registration, and auto repairs.
- My therapy bills… No one said being a PA was easy.
- My contributions to the Over-Priced Film School’s Alumni Association.
- My Lynda subscription.
- Netflix, movie tickets, and plays I saw last year.
- My trip to Sundance
- What I paid her last year to do my 2010 taxes
- My web sites.
I thought I’d pass that info along, in case you guys were going in to see your own accountants soon.
[[1]]Not the whole thing, of course, but a decent percentage[[1]]
4 Responses
Is it generally safe to assume that most accountants will be familiar with these sort of tax write-offs and how to deal with the plethora of W-2’s at the end of the year, or should I be looking for someone who knows entertainment accounting specifically?
In Los Angeles, most accountants will know entertainment accounting, so don’t fret.
Thank You for this!
This is my first year in the business & i’ve been dreading tax time. Possibly dumb question: How do I get the production company/payroll company to take my taxes out of my check so I don’t end up having to pay the IRS every year? I always mark “Non-exempt” on my form but nothing.
When you fill out your W4 at the beginning of a show, put a 0 or a 1 in Line H.
This way, they’ll take out a big chunk of your paycheck, but you’ll get most of it back come tax season.