Professional DJ Talk: Taxes, Checks, receipts, etc
Donger
854 Posts
OK I have been DJing professionaly since 1993, but this is the first year have I gotten paid significant amounts of money via CHECK. I have a manager now, which is why I'm getting these corporate gigs that pay well and by check. I'm cutting him commission checks now, since we sort of changed the way we do things together recently. My manager suggested setting up an LLC, that way I don't get taxed on the commission checks I pay him or I can write them off or whatever. He even offered to set one up for me which is nice. I'm still obviously going to talk to my accountant about this stuff, but I also know there are plenty of other DJs here who must have gone throught this here before and I was hoping to get some real life experiences on pros and cons of setting up an LLC vs incorporating yourself etc.Does anyone here have anything like that set up? Any regrets?Has anyone been audited or fucked with by the government? Any advice for me?I've started keeping receipts for Microwave, all my record purchases, cab fares, etc. which is probably a good start.Any help is appreciated.Thanks,The Dong
Comments
When I was doing my taxes with H&R block a few years ago I told them that I was going to be setting up my own business as a DJ and was curious if they had any literature for me. they gave me this really handy packet that explained everything about what you need to save, what you need to write down, what you should write off, etc. I looked it over and it seemed like it was put together very very well. It doubled as your set of books as well. You may want to drive over there and ask for one of these things just to get an idea of what your going to be getting into. I decided against it for now. Im just not major enough (at the moment hehe)
also
If you have bought a new computer in the last few years you probobly have a version of quickbooks in there. I think there is information on this stuff in there.
good luck!