How Artists Can Benefit from a CPA

Freelancers tend to be busy in general, and freelance artists are perhaps even more busy than the average freelancer. When you’re a freelance artist, you’re simultaneously your own employee, manager, PR agency and HR representative. This means that you’re likely super busy. Because time is important to artists, organization is key and a good CPA can help you stay manage your affairs. Here’s a few specific benefits a CPA can bring to the table:

A CPA can help you make sense of your earnings and expenses: you’ve got clients, vendor fees, invoices, and supply costs to worry about. All of this is in addition to creating your art! Brutal! However, a CPA can help you put all of that in order to ensure that you claim appropriate deductions and credits, and pay the correct amount of taxes, which gives you fewer things to worry about.

Tax recommendations: you spend time performing, practicing, or creating, so you might not always be thinking about expense tracking. A good CPA can make recommendations on deductions and tax credits, which will help you know what expenses you should track for tax purposes. Doing so can help maximize your tax return, which in turn can give you more to reinvest into your art. Or use it to take some well-deserved time off.

They can free up your time so you can focus on your art: you’re busy maintaining all aspects of your business. Moreover, certain art mediums are not immediately replicable and serviceable as many hourly or salaried job tasks, meaning that artists tend to work odd, long, and inconsistent hours. Along with properly maintained records, a good CPA can help free up your time so you can focus on doing what you love.

Image credit: HeyDanielle