Taxes

Think Outside The Home: Teaching Opportunities And Options Part 1: Independent Contractor or Employee
A home studio is not for everyone. Home ownership may not be feasible or funds may not be available for purchasing a quality instrument. I can just hear my banker friends saying "But that's why the banks are here! We can help." However, the choice to add debt may not be attractive either, especially for young professionals with student loans. Home studios/ownership may not be compatible with contemporary lifestyles that include urban apartment living, delayed marriage or a desire for mobility.

Legal Landscape: The Difference between an Independent Contractor and an Employee
When you work for someone else, whether teaching at a community arts school, or apprenticing with a home studio teacher, or collaborating with multiple teachers at an academy or music store, you are being hired as either an employee or independent contractor.

Resources for Tax Claims, Tuition Raises, Timely Payments and Professional Mindset
From setting tuition rates, paying taxes and upgrading your studio, to embracing a mindset that is open to change, these resources are indeed gems!

Records, Receipts and Write-Offs: Taxes Made Simple for Music Teachers (Open Access)
You may not have set out to start a business when you started teaching music. But when you’re self-employed—even if it’s only part-time—that’s exactly what you’re doing. And managing the financial side of things (bookkeeping, tracking receipts, paying taxes, managing write-offs and more) is key to keeping your business on track.

Studio Refresh! Essential Business Topics to Revisit Annually
Times change, but strong business practices never go out of style. An annual refresh keeps a studio vibrant, relevant and meeting the needs of students and parents. Compiled by the MTNA Business Network, the highlights important studio topics that warrant regular review. Follow along as we explore these key studio topics in more detail.

From a CPA’s Perspective: Top 5 Ways to Prepare Your Records for a CPA
Are you nervous about your taxes? As a CPA/piano teacher, I offer these Top 5 ways to successfully prepare your records for your tax return.

1. Keep Track of Car Mileage and Report Home Business Use: Don’t forget to count any mileage or home office deductions available to you each year. Make sure you give your CPA the square footage of the area of your home exclusively used for your studio, the total square footage of your home, the total mileage on your car and the business mileage on your car.Each of these four numbers is needed for your tax return to be filed, which means you need to track your business mileage throughout the year to give an accurate number.*
2. Organize Your Information: The more organized your information is the better. I personally use Excel/Google sheets to track my income and expenses and just create a column for each separate category. If you want to make your CPA’s job super easy look up a copy of a schedule C (the form your business activity is filed on) and look at the different categories the IRS has. Make your categories match the IRS and add other expenses as needed. The more organized you are, the less you may need to pay your accountant.
3. Get a bank account for your business: Get a single bank account to track your business activity. This will make it incredibly easy for you to track the income and expenses of your business in case you don’t keep track of your records on a consistent basis. This is one of the single most important steps you can take in case the IRS ever wants to audit your business—and you can send the bank statements to your CPA along with your summarized income and expenses for the year. This is the first recommendation we always make to anyone with a business.
4. Consider a money-tracking app/application*:I mentioned that I use Excel to track my personal business expenses. However, there are even easier options out there to track your activity and organize it into categories for your accountant. Many of my clients use Mint/Quickbooks or other similar apps to track their financial activity. You can link your business bank account/credit card to the app and use it to track every transaction, then print reports for your CPA to use for tax reporting.
5. Send any tax forms related to your business: Make sure you send any 1099s reporting business income to your CPA. This will allow him/her to make sure all the income that has been reported to the IRS has been accounted for and will make it easier to defend against potential audits.

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   Brief Tax Guide for the Independent Music Teacher
   This MTNA-published Q & A-style booklet was compiled by a CPA to answer basic questions related to the business of music teaching.

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