Here is more info regarding taxes and claiming income losses on our 2020 taxes. Also, please check your state website for updates to collecting unemployment benefits. Many states have modified their requirements in order to meet demands of self-employed and "gig" workers.
All Best,
T. Alan
"""This message was shared in our Theatre Music Directors group today by Rachel
Kaufman.
"From my friend Abbe Dalton Clark:
COVID-19 and your INCOME TAXES:
Taxpayers affected by disasters are often eligible to deductions and credits. It is
10 to 13 months until you file your tax year 2020 return.
If you experience expenses and loss of income due to the pandemic measures,
you would be doing yourself and your tax preparer a favor by documenting now.
Some of this will be easy, like losing the value of a concert ticket or your spring
break. Some of this will be murkier, like if you live on tips or sales commissions.
Save emails, download and save office email blasts, and note if you have
colleagues who have had to quarantine as some employers could
unscrupulously use this to oust employees, especially older ones who might be
more likely to distance themselves socially for their own safety.
Hopefully people experiencing this will be the exception and not the rule, but if
that turns out not to be the case, future you is going to be grateful that you did a
little record-keeping."
~~~
The message was followed by MORE DETAILS from group member Jose
Simbulan:
Keep track of:
• "Copies
• PDFs
• Any signed contracts and letters of agreements
-For gigs without any "official" paperwork, copy and back-up any emails and
texts regarding getting hired, AND the amount you were to be paid.
-If your name appeared on any promo materials - flyers, e-blasts, internet ads,
etc., - keep track of those as well as proof of promised employment.
Also track who and what exactly cancelled or postponed your gig. Was it the
producer? Was it the venue closing down (which then prompted the producer/the
person who hired you to follow through - and thus lose revenue as well). Was it
due to a government-mandated shutdown?
*If you use a Calendar app, the Notes section under each entry is a very handydandy
place to keep this sort of info.
And I just read this in a paragraph in a "The Show Must Not Go On" editorial –
which contains a key piece of information regarding cancellations from the
financial viewpoint of presenters, producers, and institutions:
"...If they shut down preemptively, they have to take the hit. If they are forced to
close by government edict, they can at least start haggling with their insurers.”"
nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/close-the-theaters-the-opera-the-concert-halls-now.htmlTom Mendel"""
