It’s less than a week to tax day, but we’re not judging you for putting off that filing until the last minute. In fact, it’s quite the opposite–we’re here to help you gather your last-minute deductions.
Sure, you’ve probably deducted the same types of things year in and year out (computer here, meals there). But what is everyone else doing? We took a look at five professions and their respective deductions to give you that last-minute jolt of creativity you may need when filing your own. And for good measure, we talked to TurboTax Vice President Bob Meighan to find out what’s legal, what isn’t, and what specific things you should be thinking about in the next week or so.
Profession -Porn Star
What the Accountant Says:
“What you have to remember is that you can deduct items that are ordinary and necessary to your business,” said Meighan. “Those are generally the guidelines–anything that’s required and unique to the business can be deducted.”
Which means …
Porn stars have a different sense of ordinary. “Unlike you and I, they can write off body lotions and oils … this can also mean things like sex paraphernalia, tools, batteries … you get the picture.”
But what about …
“Costumes–maybe it’s the maid’s outfit, or cheerleading outfit–you could justify those items as expensive and deductible,” says Meighan. “You could also easily argue that a gym membership could enhance their value and enhance their business, and could therefore be written off.”
They can write off unsexy things, too
Meighan explained that porn stars could write off STD and drug testing. “They could probably argue that birth control could be a business expense. Even condoms–anything along those lines–deductible,” he says.
What Actual Porn Stars Said:
“My tattoos, my clothing are all basically an investment into my persona that my company makes money off of, and there are so many different costs that go into making movies that we wrote off. Once we shot a movie where a character played the owner of a frozen pizza distribution company (don’t ask–I think of really odd plots). I looked into prop houses and saw it was cheaper to just go to Smart and Final and buy a whole bunch of frozen pizza and then put stickers on the logos. So, I wrote off 117 boxes of frozen pizza…. as ‘set design.”—Joanna Angel, of Burning Angel (NSFW)
Another star told us his studio had covered everything except tanning, and another mentioned that some actors write off waxing.
A studio executive who wished to remain anonymous had this piece of counter-advice: “Maybe you’re right [with whatever you’re writing off], but do you want to go to the IRS every year and prove your writeoffs? Nope. It’s not worth the problem.”
Source. The Atlantic wire
