2026 tax year
Actor or performer taxes and deductions
Agent and manager commissions are deductible in full, and they are taken from gross. So the income on your 1099 is a figure you never actually received. Deduct the commission and the tax follows what you kept.
Ongoing classes and coaching are deductible because they maintain skills you already sell. The training that got you started was not. Headshots, reels and submission fees are marketing. Wardrobe is only deductible where it is unsuitable for everyday wear, which almost never covers what you wear to an audition.
The rest of the actor or performer deduction list
Ordinary and necessary business expenses, deductible in full in the year you pay them, provided they are genuinely for the business:
- Agent and manager commission
- Headshots and reels
- Classes and coaching
- Union dues
- Travel
- Wardrobe, where unsuitable for everyday wear
- Professional memberships
- Marketing
Worth knowing
Agent and manager commissions come off the top and are fully deductible, and classes are deductible once you are working rather than training to start.
That is what is specific to this trade. The larger deductions are the universal ones, see the full checklist.
What each deduction is worth to you
On $100,000 of profit with no state income tax, $1,000 deducted saves $305, 30.5%, because it comes off self-employment tax and income tax together:
| Net profit | Saved per $1,000 deducted | Effective |
|---|---|---|
| $40,000 | $231 | 23.1% |
| $100,000 | $305 | 30.5% |
| $200,000 | $297 | 29.7% |
The last row is worth less than the one above it, and that is not a mistake: past the Social Security wage base the self-employment part of the saving drops from 15.3% to 2.9%, and the higher income-tax bracket does not quite make up the difference. A deduction is worth most in the middle.
Add a state income tax and every row rises. The 1099 calculator applies that layer.
Where this comes from
The rules on this page that are specific rather than general are cited below. Follow a link to read the provision itself rather than taking our word for it:
- The qualified performing artist deduction is above the line, with a $16,000 AGI limit that is not indexedIRC 62(a)(2)(B), 62(b)medium confidence
Related
- Full deductions checklist
- Every profession
- 1099 taxes by state
- Quarterly payments
- Is an S-corp worth it?
- Local income tax
General information about how these deductions work, not tax advice. Whether a particular expense is deductible for you depends on facts this page does not have, check with a tax professional before claiming anything listed here.