Back-to-Business: A Taxing Situation III - Mailbox

The Back-To-Business Series: Index

Hey there folks

I actually got quite a bit of mail related to my last post in the Back-to-Business series. Some people were surprised when I suggested setting up a separate account for their acting income, and had a lot of questions about how to go about doing so, like...

... what you say makes sense, and I think I'll go ahead and set up a new account. I haven't made any money acting yet, though - won't my bank need me to put some money IN the account when I set it up? JL (Philadelphia, PA)

... what I want to know is what's the best bank to set up an acting account at? AS (Saint Paul, MN)

...When it comes to using money I have earned from my day job to pay for say a class or head shots, would it be best to take the money out of my personal account and deposit it into my business account in order to track the expenses and then note the deposit was not a payment for services or just pull from my personal account? LH (Portland, OR)

They probably will, JL. Depending on your Bank's policies, they might want as little as $5.00 or as much as $100.00 to start a new account. That doesn't mean that you have to make $5 or $100 as an actor before you set up your business account, though.

LH's question touches on this fact - businesses get venture capital all the time to help them start up; there's no reason why YOU can't invest in your business, just as a venture capital firm would, to help pay for your start-up costs. Just "loan" yourself the money you need to open the account - but record it in your records as a loan, not as income.

We're going to get a little more into basic accounting in a future post, but think of it like this - you as an individual are loaning your business a certain amount, with the understanding that your business will pay back you - the individual - in the future. Make a commitment to yourself (as a start-up business would commit to its investors) to pay that loan back within a year - heck, you can even commit to paying the loan back with some sort of interest. Setting things up with this in mind starts you down the path of thinking about your acting business as a business - It's makes your career about more than just going "finding a job." It focuses you on building a profit that you can return to your biggest investor - yourself.

As to the "best bank" to set your business account up at, AS... I can't really make that judgement for you. You have to look at the types of fees the banks in your area charge, whether they have a minimum balance requirement (more on that in a second), whether they offer checks and a Visa or Mastercard debit card (essential for paying your business expenses!), location, hours of operation... etc etc etc.

I myself prefer to keep the money I make in my community, instead of giving it to a large private bank... we've seen what some of the large private banks have done with our money in recent years. With that in mind, I've opted to keep my business account at a local credit union here in Portland. That's me, though... you'll need to figure out which bank is right for your needs.

...It sounds good in theory, but I don't make enough from acting to keep the money in a separate account. I have to pay my family's bills and that takes every dollar I get. BJ (Oakland, CA)

I see your point, BJ. Hell, more than that, I know exactly where you're coming from - there are some months where my business account has around $23.00 in it because I've taken "draws" out to pay my family's bills (again, "draw" is an accounting term... we'll get into that in a future post). We run into unplanned expenses from time-to-time, and the money has to come from somewhere. Luckily, the money's there - and it's ours to use.

Don't think of your business account as a "lock box" that you can't touch (remember Al Gore and the "Lock Box?" Still comedy gold...) If you're a Sole Proprietor, then you don't have to keep every dollar you make "locked up" for your business. You're not paying anyone's pension (unless you hire employees... but that's another subject entirely). As far as the IRS is concerned, your Schedule C income is yours to do with as you will.

This actually touches on another question I received:

... so if I put all the money I get from acting into a business account, how do I get it? Do I write myself a check for a salary? KD (Albuquerque, NM)

Yes and no. This is one of those accounting things we're going to get into later on... but as I said above, the IRS considers your 1099 income your money, to do with what you will. That means that you can write yourself a check (or transfer funds electronically through online banking) any time you like. It's not salary per-se, though... salary is an expense that businesses pay to employees. Since you're not an employee of your acting business - you're the OWNER of the business - you don't get a salary. You get paid as a "draw" on your business's "equity..." which isn't recorded as an expense for tax purposes.

As I keep saying, though, concepts like "draws" and "equity" are topics for a future post. For now, we're going to focus on tracking your income and expenses for tax purposes - and next week we'll focus on some tools for helping you do that throughout the year so tax season won't be so taxing. Keep your questions coming - email them to me, or feel free to shoot me a message on Twitter. Til then...

Let's get to work!

-Harold