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Earlier in the discussion, Mr. Miller asked the fillowing:

Buffy,

Thanks so much for your post. There's a lot here, but one line that stood out to me — how could it not this week? — was the the one about taxes. You say you pay them. How does that work?

Dave

I am a retired tax accountant (enrolled agent) who had a number of sex workers as clients when I was doing tax work.  Among these were both strippers and escorts.

These people filed their tax returns just like any other self-employed taxpayer.  We filed their returns for the same reasons that anyone else files returns and pays taxes.  They want to do what is right and follow the law.  They want to show they have income when they buy a house or want to apply for credit.  Some are eligible for public benefits based upon their income levels.  They pay taxes for the same reasons that the self-employed landscaper or contractor or taxicab driver pay their taxes.

When asked to list their occupation, some were quite upfront and listed dancer or escort.  Most chose to be listed as entertainers or artists.

How do they file their returns?  They list their income for the year.  We tally up their expenses:  dancing costumes, and fees paid to the bar for the dancers.  For the escorts, we deducted STD testing fees, condoms, sometimes travel to a client, sometimes motel room fees if paid by the escort. Some have advertising expenses, and so on.

All in all, it's just like filing the tax return for any other business person in a personal services business. 

And, yes, many of these people also evade their duty to pay taxes.  So do those in any of the occupations I listed above.

posted 4 years, 1 month ago
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