Leigha Horton is a professional actress residing in Minneapolis, MN and a member of SAG-AFTRA, having joined the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) in 2010 and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) in 2008. For voice and on-camera booking information, please contact 
An Actor Prepares (Her Taxes)
Taxes. Bleh. I’m not going to wax poetic about the royal pain in the hoo-ha that is filing taxes every year – especially actor taxes that come in the form of a slew of W-2s and 1099s, a kajillion itemized deductions, and a bevy of industry-specific tax questions that tend to escape the expertise of the average tax preparer. Instead, I plan to arm you with the best resources I have:
ONE – Fox Tax. These fellows know their business. They know artists. They specialize in artists. They’re affordable to artists.
TWO – Actor’s Tax Tips. Free! A brand spankin’-new blog by local actor and tax whiz and all-around responsible and intelligent guy, Mark Bradley.
THREE – The Actor’s Tax Guide. Not free! But totally worth it! Chock-full of industry-specific tax info for you, handy-dandy worksheets, organizational advice, AND tax-deductible! By the aforementioned Mark Bradley. And he’s local, so if he steers you wrong, you “know where to find him.”
FOUR – Backstage.com’s Actors’ Assets. I just found these articles today when looking up what it means to be a “Qualified Performing Artist.” They’re well written and quite informative. I must say, though, $16,000 cap on your adjusted gross income?! What a joke. Too bad “Qualified Performing Artist” and “Successful Performing Artist” seem to be mutually exclusive.
If you, too, have a little bundle of actor tax preparation secrets up your sleeve, by all means, do share. Misery does love its company, does it not?