Jake & Will: CONTEST WARRIORS

Whenever we win cash we split the money between ourselves and whomever else we worked with. The problem with splitting it evenly is that someone is left holding the tax bag.

One of the best ways to insure that everyone is paying taxes on their own money is to have them sign a W-9 and send them a 1099 during tax time. It get's a bit more complicated when different people put money into the production. Let's say I fill out the W-9 for the contest and we win $2000, if I put 100 dollars into supplies for the shoot I write Will a check for $1000, make him sign a W-9, and then he writes me a check for fifty dollars, or half the production cost. I can now write off the money I gave to Will, and as long as Will reports it on his taxes everything is gravy.