LAS VEGAS — Alex Coal recently hosted a webinar with Adam Hodson, CPA, self-billed as a sex work-friendly accountant, with the goal of teaching those in the adult industry how to better prepare their taxes.
The presentation began with Coal admitting that she struggled with her taxes when she started camming several years ago; the difficulty of organizing her taxes caused Coal severe stress.
One of the first suggestions Hodson made was to use a separate business bank account and credit card to deposit all income and pay all business expenses; doing this allows the use of bank and credit card statements as a digital record keeper of all transactions. Hodson noted that when keeping records this way, the IRS doesn’t require receipts for business travel, meals and transportation expenses under $75.
While performers still need to keep some receipts for purchases larger than $75, if they are audited, a digital ledger will still make tax preparation vastly easier for an accountant, and less expensive.
Another suggestion offered was to form a Limited Liability Company (LLC). Forming an LLC will offer performers some legal protections and allow people to access some additional tax benefits. With that said, it is advised not to name an LLC anything similar to the performer's real name or stage name; information about the owners of an LLC, including their home addresses in some states, are available to the public, creating a risk that stalkers could steal one's personal information.
For more information about Adam Hodson, click here and follow him on Twitter.
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