Money Management for Creative Professionals

Nerissa Street of Ten Thousand Women Ten Thousand Stages Podcast interviews art-centric tax expert Hannah Cole about her influences as an artist and as a tax expert for creative freelancers. This interview is available as both a podcast and a video, so you can choose the medium that you prefer.

Hannah Cole and Nerissa Street of Ten Thousand Women Ten Thousand Stages podcast

What do creative people need to know about the differences in tax laws between gig workers and employees? How much should you be saving in self-employment tax? How has the landscape changed in the current economy?

Hannah had two messages growing up: "Do what makes you happy!" and "Art won't make any money." How did that and her other experiences as an artist help her translate design needs into practical commercial benefit? They also talk about the stimulus bills and payments, deductions, and what you can look forward to in July if you have children.

Who benefits from the latest tax legislation? What has changed with business meal deductions this year?

You can either listen to the hour-long podcast here, or view it below via YouTube:

Startist Interview: Profit Motive, Marketing, and Tax Tips for Artists

Is your art a business or a hobby?

Hannah talks with Laura Griffin and Nikki May of Startist Society about her roots as an artist and about establishing a profit motive for your art business. She chats about empowerment for artists and how she got started in accounting after some bad experiences she had as an artist.

What should you use to track expenses? How and what expenses are deductible? Can donated artwork be deducted? Do I need to collect sales tax? Find out the answers in this podcast interview relevant to creative freelancers in the US.

Hannah discusses what things in nature and the outside world inspire her as an artist and how to slow down to look at things that most people don’t notice. How does she choose what she paints in her art practice?

They talk about using your left brain vs. right brain and balancing art and your business practice. Hannah goes into depth about how to show the IRS that your art is a business and not a hobby. They discuss how to show a profit motive through your activities and record-keeping—even if your business is not yet generating a profit.

Hannah gives specific information about tracking business expenses and receipts with examples that pertain to creative people. She also discusses how LLCs are legal and not a tax entities. They explore how to prevent tax audits and common deductible expenses, including details about mileage, business meals, donations, etc.

Money Bootcamp is an annual membership for creators to get you set up right and tracking all the right things without wasting your time. You'll have more time for creative pursuits when you stop worrying about your finances and money.

Artist/Mother Podcast with Hannah Cole of Sunlight Tax

Interview with Kaylan Buteyn about Hannah’s art journey and financial tips for creative people

Hannah talks with Kaylan about when she started out as an artist, her life as an artist, and how her career progressed to a tax expert specializing in helping artists and other creative freelancers. She talks about her career in accounting and what experiences led to her decision to start her own company.

Other topics covered in this hour-long podcast are the factors involved in choosing a type of business and how getting your finances organized gives you more room for creative work.

Understanding where your money is going and getting your finances organized give you more head space, more time to spend on other things, a clearer vision for your practice. They discuss how women are taught differently about money than men and money shame and breaking down stereotypes. Hannah shares some empowering advice for anyone feeling down. Her mission is to help artists feel more organized and in control of their own money.

Hannah also covers the basics in bookkeeping and profitability to get your business moving forward and how to get into the habit of tracking your finances.

Hannah will be available via zoom on the Artist/Mother network for a live Q&A to answer any lingering questions you have on March 16th, 3:00pm ET.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

The Artist/Mother podcast is created and hosted by Kaylan Buteyn. You can see more of Kaylan’s work on her website or connect with her on Instagram @kaylanbuteyn

How Can Freelancers Benefit from New Tax Laws?

Hannah’s short interview on BPR Radio

Image via StartupStockPhotos on Pixabay

Hannah Cole had an interview with Matt Peiken of Blue Ridge Public Radio in North Carolina last week. She discussed the new tax laws and some of the areas where artists and other freelancers can benefit from them, like sick and family leave credits.

Although she talked to Matt for about an hour, the broadcast only contained a short clip. You can listen to Hannah and read about the tax law changes in her discussion with Matt in the article on the BPR website.

If you missed the live Shuttered Venue Operators Grants webinar mentioned in the article, click here to sign up to get the replay video.

Translating the New Tax Bill for Small Businesses

“Am I going to benefit from the new business deduction?”

“Do I need to incorporate to take advantage of it?”

These are questions I’m hearing a lot since the passage of the massive new tax bill. Much of the worry centers around some misconceptions. So, I’d like to outline what’s in the new provision, who it affects, and why you likely don’t need to change a thing to benefit.

The most important outcome of the new tax law (officially the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or TCJA) was to give a large, permanent tax cut to corporations. The corporate tax rate went from 35% to 21%. Those numbers are a little deceptive, because most US corporations don’t pay nearly that rate once you factor in tax credits and loopholes. A 2016 U.S. Government Accountability Office study found that between 67% and 72% of all active US Corporations between 2006 and 2012 had no tax liability after credits. In fact, the effective corporate tax rate (a much more meaningful number) is closer to 15%. But despite the fact that most corporations don’t pay anything close to the corporate tax rate, the point of the TCJA was largely to cut that rate.

But most businesses in the US are small businesses, not large corporations. In fact, 30.2 million businesses (or 99.9% of US businesses) are small businesses, according to a government-sponsored  2018 US Small Business Administration report. About half the private workforce in the US is employed by small businesses, and more than a quarter of the small businesses are minority-owned. However, the big corporate tax cut rate did not help these businesses at all. So rightfully, Congress introduced a provision into the TCJA to create a little more parity, called the deduction for Qualified Business Income (QBI) (also known as Section 199A). This provision, unlike the corporate tax cuts, is strictly for businesses known as “pass-through entities.” (More on that in a moment.)

But first, here’s what it does: …read more…