Ways to lower your cost, living expenses, & getting more on your tax deductions.
Hello ladies,
As a professional & vendor in the adult entertainment industry I have seen what my girls had to go through both new to the business & for those w/ a few years under their belts. I wanted to share some tips that for some of the new users of stripperweb:
1. Build a good rapport with the club staff. Quite a few of the ladies I have worked with have done this & has paid off for them in costs...."How?" you may ask. Well I always see which girl is willing to work no matter the day & I see which other girl is compatible in either work ethic, professionalism, attitude, or demeanor. I also see how far apart they live from each other. Pairing them up is 1 good way to have them take turns driving to work (carpooling), or for me to know this type of info I can go out of my way if asked nicely to pick you up or drop you off from work since most of the time its on the club's clock.
2. SAVE YOUR GAS RECEIPTS. If you live within 25 miles from the club then by all means start counting the miles you drive to work each day you work and come back home. This will help with your standard deductions.
3. Make up, outfits, and heels are deductible because they're work related. I used to buy my clothes for security & file them as a job expense. Since I sell at either a slightly less price or free shipping. I ALWAYS ask my girls,"Do you need a receipt? This helps out for your taxes". They either say yes or no, but I always ask.
4. Trying to get a new apartment? Need a recommendation to prove your income? Then ask the ACM (Acting Club Manager or CM) to leave a note to speak with the club's book keeper or accountant. Tell them what you need in order to have a credit approval & they will do it on a company letterhead. Don't worry most clubs usually have a corporate name and are "doing business as" whatever the club's name is. So you're not going to find "Kitty Kat's Pussy Palace" at the top of the recommendation. Also I'm discrete when using my name as a referral so I just list that I'm in management & provide my business number instead of my personal one. This helps focus & change the way I answer the phone. If you have a manager or accountant like me you will have no problem landing that house or apartment for rent.
5. Lower your utility expenses by getting a place that includes it in the rent. If you rented home or apartment offers you 1 or 2 parking spaces & you either have 1 car or no car....then why not rent out your parking spaces to neighbors nearby? You can charge them $10-20 a spot per month, its good for them because of proximity and you can put that money to good use somewhere.
6. If you're spending money on your cell service......well then that's a deductible. Most of the dancers I see are on their cell phones calling/texting clients. Better yet get a service that pays you and still right it off. There is one service I'd like to mention that does this, but I'd prefer that you message me about it since this is not the place to promote it here.
7. This is a tedious task but here goes. For dancers that work every day & want to pay taxes based on what they earn. Add all your dances for that shift for each day that you work. For those who haven't done so & are now just reading this....well this will be time consuming but ask you club to check their records on how many dances you made and what amount did you pay in floor fees. It'll add up & will help you in the process on what you want to pay. (Note: NOT ALL CLUBS DO or WILL DO THIS).
8. Need to hire a taxi to get to work? Ask them to provide you a receipt. Need super glue to fix a broken heel? Save the receipt.
Want to buy lunch during your shift. Ask the bouncer to go on a lunch run (thereby saving your work time and travel expenses) and tell him to keep the receipt because you are allowed to file a certain percentage of food cost for your taxes.
There may be more tips that I probably have but can't think of them right now. I hope this helps and please feel free to comment or if you have a particular question I'll try my best to answer them.
NOTICE: I am not a financial expert nor do I agree with the Federal Income Tax, but I do believe in the State Income Tax.
Re: Ways to lower your cost, living expenses, & getting more on your tax deductions.
You seem to think a lot more things are deductible than the IRS would realistically allow if you were to actually get audited.
I also beg to differ about having lower expenses if your rent includes utilities, as landlords will generally up the total cost high enough to cover you being wasteful so you end up spending less if you can control your usage, but perhaps that's area-specific.
Re: Ways to lower your cost, living expenses, & getting more on your tax deductions.
I thought that gas and travel expenses were only tax deductable if you were working somewhere other than a home club?
https://www.stripperweb.com/forum/sh...tax+write+offs
Make-up and outfits can be iffy because of the "Housewife Test".
https://www.stripperweb.com/forum/sh...tax+write+offs
https://www.stripperweb.com/forum/sh...tax+write+offs
Other threads:
https://www.stripperweb.com/forum/sh...n-filing-taxes
https://www.stripperweb.com/forum/sh...ns-for-dancers
A lot of this stuff keeps getting repeated because of the lack of search button use.
Re: Ways to lower your cost, living expenses, & getting more on your tax deductions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
shanna dior
You seem to think a lot more things are deductible than the IRS would realistically allow if you were to actually get audited.
I also beg to differ about having lower expenses if your rent includes utilities, as landlords will generally up the total cost high enough to cover you being wasteful so you end up spending less if you can control your usage, but perhaps that's area-specific.
Well that's why you itemize your deductions especially if you're an independent contractor & I would concur on it being area specific. In Chicago I paid rent and that included heat and water. Electricity, phone, internet & if I was able to then cable were the stuff not included. Here in Hell Paso there are some places that just include furniture (optional), & just electricity and cable. If the IRS were to audit me today I am secure in the fact that I have saved EVERY receipt going back to 2007. As soon as April rolled around I started chucking the 2006 receipts away. I really should only file if I owe & that rarely happens. There are other venues to deduct but that would have to be on a whole different industry altogether. If and when you have time check out on youtube "Freedom to Fascism" & you'd see that we're way over taxed in this country.
Re: Ways to lower your cost, living expenses, & getting more on your tax deductions.
also, get your donation slips to goodwill and try to max it out by taking pictures and itemizing. You can donate up to $500 each time at a regular goodwill location. And you can donate up to half your income. Easy if you have a lot of friends so you can just say "hey, gimme all your donations and I'll drop it off with my stuff" :) or, you know, you have a lot of crap to get rid of.
Re: Ways to lower your cost, living expenses, & getting more on your tax deductions.
Spot on Goddess! :D She's right on that one. If you didn't save most of your receipts by now. Goodwill is a way to go. Had a bouncer buddy who did that a couple of times just so he didn't get hit to hard on owing too much.
Re: Ways to lower your cost, living expenses, & getting more on your tax deductions.
Of course opening an llc and running a business...good writeoffs there. Sole proprietors get screwed
Re: Ways to lower your cost, living expenses, & getting more on your tax deductions.
an 'objective' response from a retired dancer ...
1. is true on the surface. However, it also constitutes a 'forced' association
2. is NOT true, by the letter of the IRS code at least. A 25 mile drive from home to a single place of work and back home again is considered a commute, which is not tax deductible as a 'business travel' related expense. General standard for 'business travel' versus commuting to a single place of business is a 100+ mile distance or an overnight motel stay.
3. is semi-true. The IRS 'housewife test' allows deductions for costumes that cannot be worn on the street, for true theatrical makeup, for outrageously high heels etc. It does NOT allow deductions for department store makeup, bikinis i.e. anything that a housewife would buy with no business reason for doing so.
4. totally true, but of limited value in today's age of income verification ( unless the club's accountant is willing to 'improvise' )
5. bundling of utilities with rent payments may or may not actually save money.
6. semi-true on cell phone. It is deductible as a business expense if the person also has a second phone number available ( land line or cell ) for personal use
7. actually, some version of this is an IRS requirement
8. semi-true. At a 25 mile distance, taxi fare and 'lunch' costs will be disallowed due to commuting vs 'business travel'. Shoe repair is a legitimate deduction if the shoes themselves were deductible due to no 'ordinary' use / 'housewife test'.
As with all business expense tax deductions, if you aren't audited ALL attempted deductions work to your advantage. But if and when you are audited, obvious attempts to skirt the IRS code will quickly be disallowed. Additionally, when an auditor sees that the person is playing 'fast and loose' with business expense tax deductions, this can carry over to create suspicions that the person is also playing 'fast and loose' with self-accounted reported income levels etc.
I agree with pinups4 that setting up an LLC or an S-Corp is the most effective way for dancers to minimize tax burden ... provided that their earnings level thus potential tax savings is sufficient to justify the initial and ongoing additional costs of the LLC or S-Corp. This will be even more the case after ObamaCare takes effect during the next few months ( thanks to small business health insurance tax credits ).