Do performers pay taxes on comped meals and hotels?
"My number one piece of advice is to see a tax professional who can guide you through the process, especially if you're new to the process. Second, keep detailed records. That being said, I found two articles, [1] and [2] that give some relevant details that you might find helpful. The articles state that: Many artists end up with a combination of income types: income from   regular wages and income from self-employment. Income from wages   involves a regular paycheck with all appropriate taxes, social   security, and Medicare withheld. Income from self-employment may be in   the form of cash, check, or goods, with no withholding of any   kind. They provide a breakdown for expenses and deductions based on the type of income you receive.  If you get a regular paycheck: If you've got a gig lasting more than   a few weeks, chances are you will get paid regular wages with all   taxes withheld. At the end of the year, your employer will issue you a   form W-2. If this regular paycheck is for entertainment-related work   (and not just for waiting tables to keep the rent paid), you will   deduct related expenses on a Schedule A, under ""Unreimbursed Employee   business expenses,"" or on Form 2106, which will give you a total to   carry to the schedule A. The type of expenses that go here are: If you are considered an independent contractor (I presume this includes the value of goods, based on the first quoted paragraph above): Independent contractors get paid by cash or check with no withholding   of any kind. This means that you are responsible for all of the Social   Security and Medicare normally paid or withheld by your employer; this   is called Self-Employment Tax. In order to take your deductions, you   will need to complete a Schedule C, which breaks down expenses into   even more detail. In addition to the items listed above, you will   probably have items in the following categories: Ideally, you should receive a 1099 MISC from whatever employer(s) paid you as an independent contractor. Keep in mind that some states have a non-resident entertainers' tax, which is  A state tax levied against performers whose legal residence is outside   of the state where the performance is given. The tax requires that a   certain percentage of any gross earnings from the performance be   withheld for the state. Seriously, keep all of your receipts, pay stubs, W2's, 1099 forms, contracts written on the backs of napkins, etc. and go see a tax professional."
As a buyer you must realize they are doing everything they can to get the best deal for their client (the seller). They have made the first offer (the listing price), you made a counter offer, now they are trying to get you to see that your offer is too low.  How can they do this: show you comps that they have found to show that either their listing price was where it should be, or even that it could have been higher. If there are fresh comps that are showing an upward trend, they will be sure to show you those. Another approach is to show you what is happening in the neighborhood today.  If those sales have settled, then they are public record. If they haven't settled they are not public record. Your agent should be reminding you that they are worthless as a comp until they are settled. The only ethics issue is did the agent, by disclosing the contract, commit a violation against the rights of buyer and the seller of the other house. You have not been harmed, and the seller of the house you are interested in most likely approved the maneuver.  I would look at the documents you signed to see who owns the info on the form. Because that will tell you if your offer on the house is being used by another agent, or even your agent, as leverage in another deal. Credits are expensive, so it's a great advantage to pay in cash. Obviously, it's even more an advantage to pay in cash for a house or a car, of course if you can afford it. But, as annoying as it could be, there are some services, where you're out of option to pay in cash, or even to pay by bank transfer. One of the most prominent examples, Google Play (OK, as I've learned, there are prepaid cards. But Groundspeak, for example, has none.). With the further expansion of Internet and E-Economy there will be more cases like that, where paying in cash is no more an option. Booking of hotels or hostels is already mentioned. There are some that provide no other booking option that giving your credit card number. However, even if the do, for example bank transfer of, say, 20% as reservation fee, please note that international money transfer can be very expensive, and credit card is usually given only for security in case you don't come, and if you do come and pay in cash, no money is taken = no expensive fee for international money transfer and/or disadvantaging currency exchange rate. Like email and spam, fighting creditcard fraud is a cat and mouse game, with technology and processes constantly being developed to reduce fraud. The CVV on the back of the card is just one more layer of security.  Requiring the CVV generally requires you to physically have access to the card. CVV should not be stored by any merchant. This frustrates card skimming fraud as the CVV is not present in the track data and fraud caused by database compromises.  You should never use your PIN online. MC/VISA both have implementations of 3D-Secure (SecureCode for MC and Verified by VISA) which require a password / code to confirm card ownership. Depends on both Issuer and Merchant implementing the standard.  Regarding not needing a PIN at the airport, some low value transactions no longer need PINs, depending on the Issuer and Scheme (VISA/MC). MasterCard PayPass or VISA PayWave enable low value contactless transactions without PIN. In Australia, the maximum value for a contactless transactions is $100 AUD. At some merchants (McDonalds for example) a PIN is not required for for meals purchased with VISA (at least, for the cheeseburger I bought there as a test). This makes sense - if you don't need a PIN for a contactless purchase, why do you need it for a chip based purchase?  So - why allow PIN free transactions? On average customers report stolen credit cards / wallet very quickly and the losses are correspondingly small. As card issuers are always online, cards can be cancelled very quickly after being reported lost / stolen. Finally, by performing transactions for just a few cents or pennies, the merchant (Spotify) can likely validate you are the owner of the card as you'd need access to your online bank to confirm the transactions.  PayPal do this with bank account to confirm ownership. (Unless I've misunderstood your statement). I'm right in the middle of Gen X.  While I don't hate Applebee's, I never go.  They're on the expensive side and all of the small local restaurants will serve a better meal at half the price.  I'm also cooking more at home.  I recently bought a high temperature grill from a restaurant supply company that I'm installing at the house I just bought.  It's the same thing restaurants use, so I will have the same food for 10%-25% of what a restaurant charges.  The bottom line is that Applebee's charges too much for their product.  The product is OK, and I've had really good service at Applebee's.  The servers are usually nice and competent.  But I can't pay $15-$20 for a meal I can knock off for $3 or get at a local reataurant for $10. The IRS Guidance pertaining to the subject.  In general the best I can say is your business expense may be deductible.  But it depends on the circumstances and what it is you want to deduct. Travel Taxpayers who travel away from home on business may deduct related   expenses, including the cost of reaching their destination, the cost   of lodging and meals and other ordinary and necessary expenses.   Taxpayers are considered “traveling away from home” if their duties   require them to be away from home substantially longer than an   ordinary day’s work and they need to sleep or rest to meet the demands   of their work. The actual cost of meals and incidental expenses may be   deducted or the taxpayer may use a standard meal allowance and reduced   record keeping requirements. Regardless of the method used, meal   deductions are generally limited to 50 percent as stated earlier.    Only actual costs for lodging may be claimed as an expense and   receipts must be kept for documentation. Expenses must be reasonable   and appropriate; deductions for extravagant expenses are not   allowable. More information is available in Publication 463, Travel,   Entertainment, Gift, and Car Expenses. Entertainment Expenses for entertaining clients, customers or employees may be   deducted if they are both ordinary and necessary and meet one of the   following tests: Directly-related test: The main purpose of the entertainment activity is the conduct of business, business was actually conducted   during the activity and the taxpayer had more than a general   expectation of getting income or some other specific business benefit   at some future time.   Associated test: The entertainment was associated with the active conduct of the taxpayer’s trade or business and occurred directly   before or after a substantial business discussion. Publication 463 provides more extensive explanation of these tests as   well as other limitations and requirements for deducting entertainment   expenses. Gifts Taxpayers may deduct some or all of the cost of gifts given in the   course of their trade or business. In general, the deduction is   limited to $25 for gifts given directly or indirectly to any one   person during the tax year. More discussion of the rules and   limitations can be found in Publication 463. If your LLC reimburses you for expenses outside of this guidance it should be treated as Income for tax purposes. Edit for Meal Expenses: Amount of standard meal allowance.   The standard meal allowance is   the federal M&IE rate. For travel in 2010, the rate for most small   localities in the United States is $46 a day. Source IRS P463 Alternately you could reimburse at a per diem rate So here's our [answer](http://www.taxalmanac.org/index.php/Treasury_Regulations,_Subchapter_A,_Sec._1.162-21).  What it looks like, is basically that the **fines** are not deductible, but the **damages** are.   At any rate, I don't think it's questionable at all. It reduces the overall amount of the amount they have to pay, but it's certainly not like they come out ahead on the deal. Further, I presume it's been argued before a court that since the income was illegally obtained (through some sort of illegal function of the business) then the business paid taxes on income it shouldn't have made in the first place. "Taxable fringe benefits are included in taxable wages for the purpose of FLSA. So when those executives get to use company cars or company jets that value is ""wage"" even if it isn't salary." If thinking about it like a business you normally only pay taxes on Net income, not gross.  So Gross being all the money that comes in. People giving you cash, checks, whatever get deposited into your account. You then pay that out to other people for services, advertisement. At the end of the day what is left would be your 'profit' and you would be expected to pay income tax on that.  If you are just an individual and don't have an LLC set up or any business structure you would usually just have an extra page to fill out on your taxes with this info. I think it's a schedule C but not 100%