Do actors pay taxes differently from musicians and athletes? Like if Taylor Swift makes $20 million from a tour vs an actor making $20 million from a movie, do they pay the same amounts?

The tax situation for high earners like Chris Hemsworth is fascinating but varies greatly based on how they structure their income. While someone making $20 million would face the top federal tax bracket of 37%, their actual effective rate depends heavily on deductions and business structures. Most A-list actors don't receive traditional W-2 wages. Instead, they often create loan-out corporations or LLCs that contract their services to studios. This allows them to deduct legitimate business expenses like agent/manager fees (which can total 25-30% alone), security, training, travel, and other work-related costs. Additionally, income timing matters. Actors might defer portions of their pay or structure deals with backend participation that spreads income across multiple years, potentially keeping them in lower brackets for some portions. Even with aggressive (but legal) tax planning, a $20 million earner would likely still pay $5-8 million in total federal and state taxes. The key difference is they have access to sophisticated tax strategies that most people don't, which is why their effective rates are often lower than the headline marginal rates suggest.

I'm a CPA who works with several YouTubers and content creators. Here's what I tell my clients about home renovations: 1. Track EVERYTHING separately. Have dedicated credit cards or accounts for business purchases. 2. Document the business purpose of each renovation with photos and written explanations. 3. Be conservative with your deductions - claiming 100% of home improvements will raise red flags. 4. Consider setting up a formal business entity (LLC, S-Corp) to create clearer separation. 5. For major renovations, consult with a tax professional BEFORE starting the project to plan properly. The home office deduction (Form 8829) can be valuable, but remember it's based on the percentage of your home used EXCLUSIVELY for business. Filming in your kitchen occasionally doesn't qualify the entire kitchen as a business space.

Has anyone here actually been audited for claiming home reno expenses as a content creator? I'm terrified of getting in trouble but also don't want to miss out on legitimate deductions. My entire YT channel is about bathroom renovations and I'm about to do my third bathroom this year.

When I filled out Form 8833 for my Berlin apartment rental income, I made sure to reference the specific paragraph number of Article 6 in Part III, not just the article number. Makes it clearer for the IRS. Also, double check the amounts you're excluding match exactly across all the forms - I had a discrepancy of a few dollars due to rounding when converting euros, and it caused a letter from the IRS asking for clarification.

I've been dealing with similar German rental property issues for several years now. A few additional tips based on my experience: Make sure you're calculating the exchange rate correctly - the IRS allows you to use either the yearly average exchange rate published by the Treasury or the rate on the date you received each payment. I personally use the yearly average because it's simpler and well-documented. For your Form 8833 explanation, I'd suggest being even more specific about which paragraph of Article 6 you're relying on. Something like: "Under Article 6, paragraph 1 of the United States-Germany Income Tax Treaty, income from immovable property situated in Germany may be taxed in Germany. Pursuant to this provision, I am excluding EUR 12,250 (USD 13,475 using Treasury yearly average rate of 1.10) in German rental income that was reported and taxed in Germany." One more thing - keep excellent records of your German tax payments and the exchange rates you used. The IRS sometimes follows up on treaty claims, and having everything documented makes the process much smoother. I scan and organize all my German tax documents each year specifically for this purpose. Your negative adjustment approach sounds correct - that's exactly how I handle it on my returns.

Has anyone thought about the stimulus payments? If you claim your nephew as a dependent for 2022, would you get the additional dependent stimulus money or does that only apply to kids you had in 2022? Or am I thinking of the wrong tax year entirely lol

The Child Tax Credit can definitely be a significant benefit - up to $2,000 per qualifying child under 17. Since your nephew is 16, he would qualify if you can claim him as a dependent. There's also potentially the Child and Dependent Care Credit if you're paying for childcare while you work. One thing to consider is that these tax benefits can be substantial enough that it's worth having a clear conversation with his parents about who should claim him. If you're providing the majority of his support and he's living with you for more than half the year, you have a strong case. But getting that written agreement beforehand (like others have mentioned) will save everyone headaches later. You might also want to track your expenses carefully - not just obvious things like food and clothing, but also your increased utility bills, transportation costs for getting him to school/activities, and even entertainment expenses. All of that counts toward the support calculation and helps strengthen your position if there are any questions later.

Has anyone used both TurboTax Business and H&R Block Premium & Business for S-corps? Trying to decide which one to go with this year. I've been using TurboTax for personal returns but not sure if it's the best for S-corps.

This is such a timely question for me! My wife and I are in almost the exact same situation - she started an S-corp last year and we've always filed jointly for our personal taxes. One thing I learned that might help you is to make sure you're keeping really good records throughout the year, not just at tax time. We started using QuickBooks to track all the business expenses and income monthly, which made preparing the S-corp returns much easier. It also automatically categorizes a lot of transactions, so you're not scrambling to figure out what each expense was for when you're doing your taxes. Also, don't forget about quarterly estimated tax payments for the S-corp income! Since it flows through to your personal return, you might need to adjust your withholdings or make quarterly payments to avoid underpayment penalties. We got hit with that our first year because we didn't realize the business income would push us into a higher tax bracket. The reasonable compensation issue that Ravi mentioned is super important too. We ended up consulting with a CPA just for that piece to make sure we got it right, even though we did the actual tax prep ourselves.