Charlee Chartrand as Superman from the Post Dispatch article, see link for full story.
What do you do for a living? Are you in advertising, construction, real estate? When you tell people what your job is do they seem to have a grasp of what that means? Some people’s jobs aren’t so easily defined, like Superman for example.
Actually, his name is Charlee Chartrand and he dresses as Superman for his job. This is not your every day occupation. Now I don’t know Mr. Chartrand and I don’t do his taxes, if I did, my confidentiality rules wouldn’t allow me to talk about him. I read about him in Sunday’s Post Dispatch. I did contact him and ask for his permission to use him as an example though.
The main part of Mr. Chartrand’s job is that he dresses as Superman, hangs around at Cardinals games and collects tips for posing in pictures with fans and tourists. He’s also been performing at birthday parties. If you think there’s no money in this, think again, he can earn as much as $400 in tips in a day. And that’s why he’s going to need to figure out his deductions before he files his tax return.
So what can Superman deduct? Let’s hit the obvious thing first: the costume–all of it. Cleaning, repairing, replacing, clearly this is one clothing expense that will count as a business expense. I would also include his undergarmets. You can’t dress as Superman and wear any old boxer shorts.
The hair: most of the time hair cuts and styling products, etc are not considered legitimate expenses for business, even if you are a professional actor or television personality. In Superman’s case here, I would claim his hair expenses. He has to dye his hair black to be Superman, and he uses four different products to get just the right effect–including the “S” shaped curl on his forehead. I think that goes far beyond what would be normal for Mr. Chartrand during his off duty hours.
I can’t tell from the photo if Superman is wearing make-up or not. He doesn’t look like it, but if he was, I’d allow it. (He might need to darken his eyebrows to match his hair.) A note about make-up: generally, make up is frowned upon by the IRS as a business expense. A clown wearing clown make-up would qualify for a deduction, but most women in any business would not. I once helped a dancer with her return and as we went through her expenses she claimed “a gallon of eyelash glue.” Now, I thought that was an excessive amount even for a professional dancer. “Not for eyelashes,” she said, “It’s to keep my costume on!” Evidently, during a dress rehearsal she had had a “wardrobe malfunction”. In order to keep herself looking decent, she glued her costume on to make sure she stayed covered. That clearly fit the category of “necessary” and I put it in. (Even the meanest IRS agent couldn’t argue that one.)
Let’s get back to Superman, He can probably claim either a home office deduction or rent for his work space. And, since he travels from his home office to his gigs, he can deduct his mileage as well. These are expenses that are pretty normal for many small businesses. It’s important to remember that even unusual businesses have normal types of expenses. Another normal type of expense for Superman might be advertising, if he has flyers or cards that he distributes to get new business.
Here’s another expense that I would use for Superman that might seem out of the ordinary: comic books—Mr Chartrand uses comic books to compare against his costume and maintain the authenticity of his look. I’d count it as a valid business expense.
Also, Mr. Chartrand has a goal of moving to Los Angeles. Making a permanent move to Los Angeles would count as a moving expense, as opposed to a business expense. But, if Mr. Chartrand makes a trip to Los Angeles, to test the market so to speak, he could probably write off most of that stay as a business deduction. This would give him a chance to test out the market and give himself an out to come home if he found Los Angeles wasn’t the place for him.
When claiming business deductions, the key phrase the IRS uses is “ordinary and necessary”.
To be deductible, a business expense must be both ordinary and necessary. An ordinary expense is one that is common and accepted in your field of business. A necessary expense is one that is helpful and appropriate for your business. An expense does not have to be indispensable to be considered necessary.
When you’ve got a one-of-a- kind type of career, it’s not always easy to figure out what ordinary means. Hopefully, Superman’s example can give you some ideas about what’s ordinary and necessary for your business.
To read more about Charlee Chartrand, aka Superman, this link will take you to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch article about him:
interesting, thanks