Death, Taxes, and What Creative Freelancers Forget to Claim
There are only two certainties in life. Death and taxes.
I didn’t come up with that one, but I’ve lived it enough times to know it’s true. And I’ll say something that might sound strange coming from a guy running a small creative business: I don’t mind paying tax. It’s part of what gives us the roads, the hospitals, the quality of life we all get to enjoy. Paying it isn’t the enemy. Not knowing what you’re allowed to claim against it, that’s the part that costs creative people money they didn’t need to lose.
Quick disclaimer before I go any further, because this matters: I am not a tax agent, and this isn’t tax advice. I don’t do my own tax. I have an accountant who understands the industry, and that relationship has been worth every dollar. What follows are things worth raising with yours. Consider it a conversation starter, not a form to fill in.
A Business That Didn’t Survive Its Own Books
Years back, before Remember Kate, I ran a small creative business on the side. A couple of random clients, some hustle, the usual optimism of someone starting something. I put more into it than it ever returned, and worse, I wasn’t keeping good records. By the time I sat down to actually do the return, much later than it should have been, the bill was bigger than what I had left in the account. That business closed not just because the tax caught me by surprise. There were multiple factors, but the lesson stuck: if you’re earning, put roughly 30 percent aside as you go. Assume you’ll owe it, because you probably will. Do it properly, and there’s usually a bit left over for new gear too.
Income Averaging, the One Nobody Explains Properly
I knew this existed before I could have told you what it actually does. The ATO has a category for “special professionals,” which covers authors, composers, visual artists, and other creative roles, animators included. If you have a big year, a large contract lands, a great commission comes in, this can smooth that spike across your recent income history instead of taxing the whole thing at the top rate in one hit. It’s technical, and it’s exactly the kind of thing an accountant who knows the creative industry will flag for you. Ask about it by name.
Training Counts, and We Forget It
Creative people are lifelong students by nature, and we’re strangely bad at remembering that the courses, workshops, and coaching we pay for to stay sharp in our current work are often deductible. Not training for some entirely new career, but the rigging course, the new software masterclass, the thing that keeps you employable in the work you’re already doing. Worth raising every time you invest in yourself.
Your Studio Is a Studio, Not Just a Desk
Most home-office guidance is written for someone answering emails at a laptop, not someone with a tablet, a second monitor, a shelf of reference material and a space that only exists because the work exists. A dedicated studio, even part of a room, can strengthen what you claim beyond the generic home-office rate. Pair that with the equipment itself: tools of the trade under $300 can usually go through in full, and there’s an instant asset write-off threshold worth knowing the current limit on, because it moves.
The Software Nobody Thinks to Mention
Everyone remembers the obvious one, the design or animation software subscription. Fewer people think about the electricity, the phone, the internet that all of it runs on, even if a client hands you a virtual desk with the software already loaded. You’re still supplying the power and the connection that makes the desk usable.
Super Is On You Now
Nobody takes it out of your pay automatically anymore. As a sole trader, personal super contributions are often deductible within the annual cap, and it’s one of the easiest things to simply never get around to. Done properly and within the caps, it can work in your favour at tax time too, so it’s worth asking your accountant where that line sits for you.
The Fun Part, If You Let It Be
I know tax can feel like the least creative part of running a creative life. But there’s actually a bit of craft in it too, in the same way there’s craft in any pipeline you build well. Good records, a decent accountant who gets what you do, and a habit of setting money aside as you go, and tax stops being the thing that sneaks up on you. It becomes just another part of the process. Talk to someone who knows the creative field, bring this list to that conversation, and see what you’ve been leaving on the table.
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