This is one of the worst times of the year, in my opinion. It’s tax season. I’ve never met anyone that is happy about this time of the year and for me and Dave… it is such a hassle! If we just worked for 1 company or even 2, it wouldn’t be so challenging, but instead we are full time employees, on- call employees, and self-employed.
My full time job is teaching orchestra, but I have a lot of other jobs as well. I am adjunct at Drury University and Missouri State University, so sometimes I have W2’s from them along with SPS. Then I am an on-call musician with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and Principal Second Violin of the Drury Civic Symphony Orchestras, so I have income coming in from those groups. Then I have extra gigs: Christmas gigs, Church gigs, Weddings, funerals, parties, Easter gigs, Palm Sunday gigs… etc., which all have to be filled because it’s income. And to top that off, I have my own private violin/ viola studio at my house. Now, I am no accountant… I have no idea how to write everything out or how to file all of my miscellaneous jobs.
OK, NOW MY HUSBAND…. He used to tour all the time. He has been out with a lot of groups, but his last was the Beyonce’ Tour.
He recently got off the road in December when he decided to go back to school for a Computer Science degree. While on the road, you are given money ( per diem) on days off for any expenses you may have. You are also given or supposed to be given per diem on days that you are traveling. Then you get normal paychecks. At least this last year Dave only worked for 1 main touring company… in years past, he had worked for 3 different companies… yikes, the head aches! Anyway… taxes are really hard for us….filing as self-employed yet employed. Luckily we found a great accountant! Thank God!
What do I need to get better at to make this head ache less of a mess?
I need to get better at holding onto all my receipts for things that i have bought for my studio, or for gigs. I need to keep all of my checks from lessons, or begin to figure out a better method for filing and keeping track of income. Then tax season wouldn’t be nearly as bad as it has been.
Tonight I spent about 2 1/2 hours trying to write down all the money that I received from lessons, looked through the bank account to check the check and cash amounts, looked through my old calendar to see every gig and figure out the mileage for those, and anything else I could think of.
Now if I could actually take a little more time throughout the weeks keeping up with everything, I would not have to do this last minute. Sounds like a plan, huh? Yeah well until reality sets in and I fall back into the horrible pattern.
God bless the people who can crunch the numbers…. I definitely did not get that gift. Well that’s all for my rant tonight…
If anyone has any suggestions on how I can keep up with my filings, receipts, and stay better organized with payments, please share! I would love to hear from you!
Hopefully your tax filing is going better than mine and you are not as frustrated. Rant done.
Well I’m peace’in out in my Stevie Nick’s style today…. Time for bed!
