Klarinet Archive - Posting 000509.txt from 1998/02

From: garylsmith@-----.com (Gary L Smith)
Subj: Re: It's tax time
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 08:05:11 -0500

On Tue, 10 Feb 1998 10:22:17 -0500 (EST) dap@-----. Paprocki)
writes:
>I'm an professional musician and would like to know what other people
>do as
>far as deductions. I have receipts of almost all of my expenses from

I hope someone weighs in with a good answer to your question. A few vague
pointers - If you're free-lance, you could probably get a lot of
information in the general tax literature under the subject
"self-employed." Direct expenses, such as supplies and services, are
probably going to be fully deductible. The IRS has cracked down in recent
years on meals, apportioning part of your house as an office, etc. They
have reduced deduction proportions and/or come up with stricter tests -
I'm not sure how *anyone* qualifies to deduct part of the cost of their
dwelling anymore...

But my major reason for responding is to mention one thing that kind of
reeks: those of us who play and give lessons for $, but do not make our
living at it, find this whole question moot - the IRS does not allow
*any* deductions. At least, a friend who makes *his* living advising
people on tax issues told me this - in such cases it's considered a
hobby. If someone has heard different, please advise me, because I expect
to make $3-5K next year in lessons and pay jobs, incurring $1-2K in
direct expenses as a result.

Gary