Tax time is upon us. Are you sure you’re getting all your write-offs? That’s the topic in this weeks voice over tip video.
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There are certain benchmarks that we can use to measure our success as voice actors. Some of them may be general. Some of them personal.
For example, booking a national commercial would be (in my opinion) a general benchmark for success. That’s a big deal. If you’ve done it, be proud! If you’re still working on it, don’t give up! On the personal side, perhaps voicing a project for a dream client would be a benchmark for success.
For Canadian voice actors, another benchmark might be registering for your HST number. After all, that means you’ve surpassed the $30,000/year mark in income, and are well on your way to building a very promising full-time career. Of course it also means more paperwork and math, which aren’t as enjoyable. But let’s not focus on that. 😉
If you’re new to the wonderful world of HST or if you’ll be diving into that world soon, the first thing I will tell you is consult your accountant! We’re talking about the government here. This is not something you want to mess around with. Trust me, one way or another, they’ll get their money. Do yourself a favour and do the research!
The second thing I’ll tell you is, it gets confusing. Who do you charge HST? How much HST do you charge? How do you pay your HST? You’ll get to familiarize yourself with the answers to all of these questions. But I’m going to answer one of them for you now.
Each province and territory has a different tax rate. Which means if you’re working with clients outside of your home province, you’re going to need to know how much to charge. Here’s that list…
Alberta – 5%
British Columbia – 5%
Manitoba – 5%
New Brunswick – 13%
Newfoundland and Labrador – 13%
Northwest Territories – 5%
Nova Scotia – 15%
Nunavut – 5%
Ontario – 13%
Prince Edward Island – 14%
Saskatchewan – 5%
Yukon – 5%
For more information on HST/GST click here.
To register for your HST number call 1-800-959-5525
PS: Buy your accountant dinner to ask them questions about HST and give yourself a tax write-off! 😉
Now that tax season has come and gone and you’ve either paid your bill or spent your refund, perhaps it’s a good time to start preparing for next year.
As an entrepreneur and a freelancer, did you know there are a lot of write-offs that can make a big difference when it comes to your year end tax bill? The list I’m about to give you is by no means comprehensive, but these are all items that could be saving you money at tax time.
There are the obvious write-offs, like those directly related to your studio and business. Equipment, phone, internet, percentage of mortgage (rent), hydro, etc. But there are a lot of other things you might not think of.
If you haven’t got an accountant for your business yet, you really should find one. And if you do your taxes yourself, you should still make friends with an accountant. They really can save you a lot of money.
I take my accountant for dinner every year at tax season (a write-off, by the way). He’s saved me a ton of money by helping me find write-offs I’ve missed on my own.
As a business owner, just about any time you spend money on anything that is for or connected to your business, odds are it can become a write-off!
DISCLAIMER: Always consult with a professional accountant that can keep you in compliance with your local and federal tax laws.
Tis the season for filing taxes! Oh the joy!
As I was finalizing all of my invoices, expenses, etc… to send off to my accountant, I had to smile at my 2013 books. After all, knowing I was able to collect full payment on 100% of my invoices is a pretty good feeling!
In the voice over business, as with my freelance businesses, achieving 100% payment isn’t always easy. Look in any voice over group on any social network and you’re guaranteed to find talent venting, complaining or seeking wisdom on how to collect on outstanding accounts.
So what’s my secret?
Invoice Immediately: This one change I made in 2013 might have been the biggest difference maker! I send an invoice with the final audio. No more waiting for client approval. No more waiting until the project is complete. Essentially… no more giving anyone time to forget about me!
30 Day Follow Up: I follow up on any outstanding invoice after 30 days. The key to this follow up is be polite! Don’t assume because you haven’t received payment the client is trying to screw you. In my experience, that’s never the case. A friendly note reminding them of the invoice, asking if they need you to resend it, and reminding them you’re available for any new work is all it takes!
Choose Clients Wisely: Go with your gut. Trust your original instinct. How many other cliches would you like me to throw at you? Nine of out ten times, you’ll have a sense of whether a client is worth your time or not. Pick bad clients and bad jobs and you’ll suffer. Select great clients and great jobs and you’ll get 100% payment!
Make Payment Easy: This is vital. I accept cheque. I accept PayPal. I accept email money transfers. I accept wire transfers. The more ways you have to get paid, the easier it will be for clients to pay you. Include CLEAR payment instructions in your invoices.
The key to collecting on difficult accounts is to be friendly. Always. Click To Tweet
If someone comes at you, what’s your reaction? Get your back up? Does anything productive ever come from that response? Seldom. If ever.
Did I have to chase some invoices in 2013? Of course I did. But I never got nasty. I never dropped threats of collections or legal proceedings or other such things I hear other talent discussing. I always assume the best, give them the benefit of the doubt and remind them how much I enjoyed working with them.
In all cases, for me, it worked!
Here’s hoping to 100% payment for your business in 2014!
As a voice actor, I’m going to assume that you’re more of a creative type by nature. Makes sense. As a result of your creative nature, I’m also going to assume that you really don’t like doing bookwork. You likely avoid it like an audiobook project that pays $25. Can’t blame you for that.
However, keeping books is part of the gig when you’re running your own business. Well, it is assuming you’d like to avoid criminal charges for tax evasion!
For years I was the guy that was scrambling a week before the tax deadline trying to sort out my stuff. All my invoices were gathered in one spot. All of my expenses were gathered in another, sort of. But it was more of an organized chaos and certainly not accountant friendly. So I’d scramble. Sifting through receipts, cross-checking paid and outstanding accounts and trying to make sure I wasn’t forgetting any potential write-offs.
I hated my life during that time. I also knew there had to be a better way.
In 2012 I vowed that I’d find that better way. I promised myself that when tax season rolled around all I’d have to do is fire off one quick and simple email to my accountant. No stress. No hassle.
I succeeded! Here’s how I did it…
1) Invoice Immediately: I used to be the guy that waited until a project was completed and approved before I’d send an invoice. This meant that on occasion, I might not invoice until two months after voicing! Do you know how hard it is to remember who has and hasn’t been invoiced when you run your business this way? It’s a nightmare!!!
I had clients who liked it better this way, but I didn’t. I’d lose track of invoices. I’d wait six months for payments. Sometimes I couldn’t even remember who had an hadn’t paid, because it had been so long since I completed the job. This is a great way to go out of business!
Rule 1: Invoice immediately. My new practice is to send an invoice in the same email as the finished audio I send.
2) Track Invoices: I have a spreadsheet with every single invoice on it that I’ve sent. In this spreadsheet I include the date the invoice was sent, the client, the job and the total amount. Outstanding invoices are marked in red. I add invoices to this sheet immediately when they are sent. Now I no longer have to try and remember who has been invoiced and who has paid. As soon as I receive a payment the invoice is marked clear in my spreadsheet.
At the end of the year, one quick formula in the spreadsheet totals my invoices for me. It takes about 5 seconds to do, and then I can send that spreadsheet to my accountant for my income.
Rule 2: Track invoices. Whether you use a spreadsheet system as I do or actual accounting software, track them from date to sent to date payment is received.
3) Monthly Accounting: I work for myself and I work from home. That means I can claim a lot of my monthly expenses. A portion of my rent, hydro, cell phone, internet, etc. At tax time, I’d be sitting at the table sorting through and entering data from twelve months of bills. This was a big part of my nightmare.
To solve this problem, I now have a two hour block of time in my calendar once a month. I have these blocks scheduled for the entire year. I set reminders, and these blocks are non negotiable. In that time block I enter all of my bills into a spreadsheet. The fact of the matter is, this usually only takes me half an hour. The stress that it saves me come tax season is WELL worth the investment!
Rule 3: Create a time block to enter your monthly expenses on a monthly basis. Again, whether you use a spreadsheet or accounting software isn’t as important as simply taking the time to do it!
4) Expense Immediately: Did you buy a case of water for your studio? A new piece of equipment? Did you order new business cards? When you run your own business you’d be surprised at all the things you can write off. And if you’re not writing those things off you’re missing out.
Back to my tax season nightmare, I’d be pouring over boxes of receipts (and emails for digital purchases) trying to find all of my expenses. Once I found them (if I found them) I’d have to enter all of them into my expenses spreadsheet. This could take hours. Hours that could be spent doing more productive things… like recording voice overs!
My solution to this problem… as soon as I make a purchase I record it in my expenses spreadsheet immediately. I save the receipt for my records, but I record it immediately. This practice, which takes roughly 60 seconds at a time, can literally save you hours come tax season.
Rule 4: Record your expenses as soon as you make purchases and save all your receipts for your records. Keep digital receipts in a special folder in your email program. Keep hard copy receipts in a file folder.
5) Have An Accountant: My accountant is amazing! AMAZING! The magic that he works with all of the numbers I give him blows my mind. Because I was organized this year, all I had to do was fire off an email with two spreadsheets. One for my income and one for my expenses. It was a great reward for a year of sticking to my commitment. That said, all of my effort would be for nothing without my amazing accountant.
He doesn’t just crunch the numbers, he finds things. He’ll send me emails asking if I had this expense or that expense. If I made this donation or that donation. He is always looking out for me. He’s taught me so much about write-offs and good tax practices. He’s literally saved me thousands over the years.
Rule 5: Find a great accountant and your taxes will never have to stress you out again!
Taking some proactive measures throughout the year, and making a commitment to keep them will go a long way to improving your business. Thanks to my new practices I get paid faster, I chase fewer invoices, I have more write-offs, I pay less tax and I have no stress when tax season rolls around!
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