5 Tax Deductions For Actors

June 11, 2021

If you earn your living as an actor, doing your taxes doesn’t have to be challenging. There are many deductions your Los Angeles accounting service wants you to know about so you don’t pay a penny more than you have to on your income taxes. Review five deductions here to keep in mind during tax time. 

Promotional Expenses

Any promotional materials you use to score jobs and increase awareness about upcoming performances count as tax deductions. Audition tapes, business cards, show flyers and billboards, resumes and portfolios, professional headshots, and website building all apply. Any ads you took out for shows during the tax year are deductible as well, such as those in local newspapers and magazines, both print and online. 

Business Travel

Acting often means traveling. If you use your own car to travel to different performance venues, deduct related costs such as gas, tolls, and vehicle maintenance. Flying to perform at theaters around the country is also deductible assuming you pay for flights yourself. Any flights or other travel paid for by theater and production companies do not apply to your taxes. However, you can expense meals purchased on the road. 

Stage Makeup & Personal Care Products

The stage makeup you bought during the tax year to look extra-visible on stage provides deduction opportunities. Personal care products and beauty treatments to help you look your absolute best before performances and appearances are also deductible, including face wash, toner, makeup remover, services like dermal fillers and Botox, hair blow-outs, masks, creams, self-tanner, and lotions. 

Education

Perhaps you took acting classes during the year, or worked one-on-one with a seasoned thespian or film actor. Maybe you attended voice lessons or other continuing education classes related to your craft. Any lesson that connects to your job is a deduction your Encino tax consultants want you to use. 

Wardrobe

Those stage clothes you bought with your own money are tax-deductible, as are dresses or suits, and street clothes used to attend events. Anything you wore to premiers, conventions, seminars, or other acting-related events are write-offs at tax time. 

Work with Wallace & Associates, your Los Angeles accounting service, whenever you need tax prep assistance.