Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
From actors and Uber drivers to journalists and lawyers, Los Angeles is filled with freelancers, many of whom are likely to be affected by what's currently happening in D.C. as House and Senate Republicans hammer out a final version of their tax overhaul.
For advice to L.A. gig workers, Take Two turned to Mary Tonden, an accountant at Tonden & Associates in Los Angeles.
Actors, production assistants, coordinators and everyone else involved in a production project are considered employees, even if they only work for a day on a commercial. It's the actor's job to find employment.
They pay 10 percent to managers, 10 percent to agents, sometimes 10 percent to lawyers.
Under the new proposal, they don't get to deduct [those kind of] unreimbursed employee expenses. And that's where things will get tricky.
These people are not going to see that much change in their income.
As long as they still report their income, report their expenses, not much will be different.
There have been things floating around on social media saying they can no longer deduct their business expenses, but that's not true.
These people are similar to an attorney with a contract.
They can deduct their mileage, their cleaning supplies for the vehicle.
With Airbnb, they can deduct their expenses on the house. Nothing much will be changed in that sense.