The IRS and the Freelance Dilemma
Bora Pena is a 27-year old artist and compositor working the New York freelance circuit. “I prefer freelancing. I have my rate, I have my freedom. I’m not ready to be tied down; I’m in a creative industry where I’m doing motion graphics one day, but next week I might want to become a cartoonist. Freelancing is the only way you can say ‘I’m dying, I’m going to take a three-month break.’ If you’re a full-timer, you’re stuck.”
Pena remembers the good old days not all that long ago of freelancing: “It was a lot easier when the industry was flourishing to invoice a client, get your check the next week and put it in the bank – it was almost like going to an ATM, it was intense. There was so much money being thrown around – you could permalance for months and months and months. You’re accumulating tons of great checks every month, and you’re in New York.
It’s a lifestyle; you’re working constantly. It’s a creative industry and unfortunately some of us are uncontrollable when it comes to spending, because you don’t realize how valuable it is to save some of it until the end of the year. I made my mistakes when I started out; when tax time came around I owed $20,000 and I wound up on an IRS payment plan.”
Pena attended an MBO presentation while working at Psyop this past summer. “MBO and another company came to Psyop. All the freelancers I work with liked what MBO had to say; they were all older than me and they chose MBO.” He credits the company with helping him simplify and discipline his financial life. “I invoice MBO, I list the number of days I work through them. Everything is on the record – I can log onto my [page on the MBO] website and see everything I’ve done.”
In his bad old freelance days, Pena would accumulate a mountain of receipts to dig through every year at tax time, but after signing with MBO “you get into the groove you submit your expenses every week you know how many are getting approved based on tax-related reasons. At the end of the week MBO invoices the company and you see everything right away – when the invoice was sent, when the company approved it. It’s easier to keep track when you don’t have to keep track of the numbers – all you have to do is log into the website and see what the latest update is.
“The employer pays MBO, MBO takes taxes out and pays you. The money you’re getting you can actually spend.” Pena tempers his enthusiasm for MBO, noting there are “pros and cons” to the relationship. “The con is you’re going through a middleman – you have to learn to trust these people – what they’re taking out why they’re doing it.” He adds that the company’s presence in New York only dates back to this past summer, and hasn’t taken him past tax season yet. “We’ll see how it plays out. We’re all naturally impatient because we live in New York.”
Joe Strike has written about animation for the New York Daily News, Newsday, and New York Press. He is currently teaching Mass Communications at New York’s St. John’s University and hosting “Interview With An Animator” at Pratt Institute. He has scripted for the Nickelodeon series Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!, adapted anime scripts into English and worked on the children’s TV series The Great Space Coaster and Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. After helping launch the cable service formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel, Joe wrote and produced programming featuring celebrities like Stan Lee, animator Ralph Bakshi and the cast of Mystery Science Theatre 3000.
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The reason why the freelancer's union is cheaper is because its a freelancers union FOR the artist. MBO is for the COMPANIES, not the artist. Before MBO companies had to pay paroll taxes, now its just 2% because the freelancer's pays for payroll.
Artist treat MBO like its something for artist but its not. Its for companies that are basically doing something illegal to cut down overhead. Up in canada, the 40% subsidies to vfx companies are paid for by the employees that work there via their taxes. Here in the US that is slowly happening by forcing the employees to work as freelancers.. and now these companies don't even want to pay for the damn accounting.. so they offset it on the artist... people who couldn't be the farthest from accounting. Companies offsetting cost to govt and the govt offsetting it to the worker.. up in canada its with subsidies, here in the US its with "services" like MBO. Whats next, I have to pay for the 'rental" of the chair I use at the company? its the same thing. I can't wait until companies start to charge the artist for the computers that they use to work on.
read the FAQ for the artist on their page.. it looks like it was written by a VFX recruiter with statements like "While most of our Associates end up falling in love with our program ". They make an emotional reference to their services, not a logical business one. Classic recruiter line.
Wake up people.
I think this is taking advantage of the underemployed folks who are forced to be "freelancers" since companies are now forcing employees to work in such manner. I freelance because I HAVE to not because I want to . Yeah the comments of Bora Pena are really indicative of the new youth in this business: The "libertarian" mindset of wanting their "Freedom" and that if you work full time you are "stuck". Interesting that thee are no comments from seasoned pros in their forties with families and mortgages. See how happy they are as they are forced to pay 45% in taxes as opposed to 30-35%, paying essentially the payroll, social security and unemployment that ALL companies used to have to pay to have employees sitting at the companies desk using the company's equipment. Now companies don't have to because of this clever trick of passing those cost on to the artist in exchange for this "Freedom" that Bora Pena so desires.
Keep in mind, this is MANDITORY to join if you work at certain companies, there is no other business "competing" for your business. There is nothing organized at the artist end to push back. Artist didn't want to organizes so the companies did.. and now they want to pass the cost of "doing business" onto the artist. And since everyone is forced to join this now, MBO get stronger, individual artist become marginalized, and the Govt does nothing, they get their money and thats all they care about. Doesn't matter that you have companies like MBO getting their "vig" mafia style off the worker.
Yes we could definitely use some streamlining being that now the reality of being transient and itinerant workers is a reality for many.. Its just that I don't want the 27 year old Bora Penas of the world driving all of this solely who sees depositing checks in his bank as "intense". His healthcare, cost of living, etc is not representative of the seasoned freelancer who may have a family and mortgage. its literally settling for the lowest common denominator from a standpoint of income and seniority.
Read what they say on their own web page:
"1. Why should I use MBO Partners to better manage my career?
Working through MBO Partners means that you can keep your independence as a freelancer, while protecting the studios you work for from these very real (and very expensive) risks."
Why is it my responsibility to "protect" these studios. If they paid their own payroll taxes then they would be responsible and not be at risk. But instead, the artist pay for this. This is the slow transferring of the cost of running a business to the artist. yes I can see paying for my own healthcare, but now paying for the company's payroll? If i work on their equipment and in their premises, I'm their employee. Period.
3. Why are more studios using companies like MBO Partners?
It is becoming very risky for studios to pay freelancers directly.
Yeah because its ILLEGAL. Now they offset that cost to the artist.
6. What if I want to use MBO Partners with a studio you aren’t already working with?
While we already have arrangements set up with dozens of studios, to set up a new relationship is very easy. Just call or email your Business Manager (your service contact at MBO Partners) and they’ll get them set up for you in the system.
Great, now you can recruit for them, and have everyone pay MBO 5% of their salary just to have a damn job... WAKE UP ARTIST. This isn't "freedom". Its 100 years of labor laws disappearing.
I did some freelance work for a company that signed me up for this. At first I was excited about the services, but then I realized I was paying alot of money for not very much, and I have many unanswered questions.
I wasn't impressed with MBO's benefits. I have a medical plan that suits my needs through Freelancers Union that costs only $285/mo. It's the same plan that MBO offers (Blue Cross Blue Shield) but MBO charges a much higher premium. Freelancers Union also offers 401k, life, disability, and dental insurance. I'm not trying to sell Freelancers Union, just saying that it's a cheaper alternative than MBO. (http://www.freelancersunion.com/benefits/index.html)
The dealbreaker for me was having to pay 5 percent of my earnings to MBO, and having to keep working for MBO in order to remain covered. I couldn't take as much time off as I liked, so it wasn't worth it for me.
I just got my W2 and a huge chunk of my money is missing. Apparently MBO don't report my business expenses as mine because normally I wouldn't be allowed them on a W2. They assured me it was fine, but it seems fishy. If it was really allowed, why don't regular employees just give all their receipts to their workplace and report that they earn less than they do to avoid income tax?
I think I'll still have to hire an accountant to figure this all out.
The general impression I get, is it's to good to be true. I wonder why has never been mentioned by graphic designers a long time ago. When I look at these services my first thought is how can this company afford to provide all these services for such a low cost, numerous businesses have a hard time struggling with these expenses. The more people in the network the more personal is required manage the individual accounts.
I really can't see any company providing an benefits or HR support as a result of these type of companies, a one stop shop. Why should any company the benefits of this model is to great. This service does benefit a worker whom isn't making the same salary as a someone whom is pulling down a larger amount.
How many years have you been with this place? I am guessing there has to be an additional fee to be included in their medical and retirement plan. Is that the case? I wonder how this service handles drastic changes in the industry. For instance when a computer became prevalent in the industry, How does the company help you categories your expenses? Won't you still have to consult a tax attorney when these issues arise?
I was skeptical of MBO when I first heard of them and I had a hard time wrapping my head around what they really did. Let me see if I can make it simple... as an advertising creative guy that's what I do.
First think of MBO as your personal HR department and accounting department.
1. MBO invoices my clients and they collect payments for me. If a client is slow paying, MBO stays on top of them.
2. MBO has master contracts with the employer. I'm not a lawyer and I don't want to hire one to to make sure I'm protected.
3. Independent contractors don't qualify for unemployment. Working through MBO makes an employee so when you're out of work you can qualify for unemployment.
4. Benefits: since working though MBO makes you a W2 employee you can participate in their health insurance program, you get errors and omissions insurance, and you can participate in their IRA program. I was getting my health insurance through the Graphic Artist Guild but the rates went up to $1,600 a month! MBO's plan is competitively priced and it's good coverage. One of my clients wanted me to carry E&O insurance but it was way too expensive but it's included with MBO.
5. Taxes: MBO withholds taxes just like a regular employer. What's good about that is that you don't have to pay quarterly taxes, you don't have to think about it, and you don't spend it and then have to figure out how you're going to pay it when it's due. My accountant didn't actually run both scenarios but his hunch is that I pay less taxes working through MBO than I do as a 1099 worker. He spends less time preparing my taxes and that saves me money.
6. Tax deductions for all medical expenses. I'm don't know how this works but I checked it out with my accountant. The way MBO is structured allows you to deduct all your medical expenses. In most cases you can only deduct the amount that's above 7 1/2% of your income. With MBO you can deduct them all so let's say you make $100,000 (to make this easy)... you could only deduct medical expense beyond $7,500. With MBO, if you had $7,500 in medical expenses and if you're in the 37% tax bracket, that would save you $2,775 in taxes.
7. Tracking business expenses. When you have a business expense, you enter it into your MBO account online and it gets deducted from your taxes.
I was hesitant to have a third party collect my payments but I ran a D&B report on MBO and found that they've been around for a very long time. Plus they work closely with the IRS and even have contracts with the government.
I was glad to see MBO began a program for visual effects people and animators. I've worked with companies like Rhythm and Hues and Ring of Fire and I know how hard you work and the long hours you put in.
Taxes take some effort to do, but it's not so annoying that it's worth giving up 5% of my earnings for. It's not worth it to pay thousands of dollars to MBO when a calculator and a little organization would do the same thing for free. Anyone can open an IRA, why should I pay for MBO's 401k? Looks like some companies messed up somehow and don't want to take responsibility, so they are sticking freelancers with the bill.
IRS problem is a large load to bear everyday. The tax season is a frustrating time for many taxpayers. Since tax season is coming up, people are wondering about how easy it might be to challenge the IRS on tax deductions. Well – the thing is that you have a 90% chance of getting shot down, and you'll have to run for payday loans over late penalties. People might have seen the recent court case where Lori Singelton Clarke notched up a win against IRS denials of her deductions. She won, yes, but you're better off with sticking to a strict interpretation how to deduct from your taxes.
If you do not want to do your receipts you can hire some one to organize them. It seems to add an additional expense on top of all the other expenses, but at a rate which may not benefit the freelancer. An Accountants job is to make sense of your expenses come tax season,based on the actions you had to take to remain employable, it won't change their rate in terms of doing your taxes. I always have this conversation once in a while with my accountant because they really do not know the nature of the beast. What happens if they come up with this 401k plan and it's doesn't work with your own objectives, then you are paying for a useless service. Even though you scan in receipts based o the job, what about all the intangible thing which apply to your career besides just the job expenses,for instance the classes(art and technical)and equipment which you know will become prevalent down the line. If the money is already taxed out you may no longer have the necessary disposable income to invest in yourself. It's also a bad idea to give the government a interest free loan. Would it take just as much time just to slip a receipt into a envelope for the proper category then scanning it and uploading it.
Surely MBO are contradicting themselves. How can you prove to the IRS that you "work" for MBO if it is the animation company who has the Employer/Employee relationship with you as defined in the article:
"... if you’re providing the worker with instruction they’re an employee. Financially, if a contractor is paid by the hour or day, they’re an employee ... if their work is critical to the company, as far as the IRS is concerned, they’re an employee"
Will there be problems about this come Tax season????
What they don't say in the article is that MBO also charges you the Employer taxes (including Unemployment taxes)from your fee. If you are a truly a W2 worker, the IRS has said these taxes should be paid by your employer, not you. As a W2 worker, you should never be paying these taxes in the first place.
Worker classification is also not as black and white as MBO describes in the article. The article describes half truths that spin obviously in MBO's favor. There are many other factors that are weighed.
The Freelancer's Union was offering 401k's and medical and dental plans before MBO came along.
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