Accountant for models, actors and presenters

Most modelling, acting and presenting work is self-employment, taxed as trading income even though it is booked through an agency. The agency collects on your behalf, deducts commission, and pays you the balance — so the gross fee is your income and the commission is your cost.

Some engagements are employment. Theatre contracts, long-running broadcast roles and certain commercials run through PAYE, and the tax deducted there is credited against your Self Assessment bill. Filing both correctly is routine once the paperwork is organised.

Claim the costs of finding and doing the work: travel to castings, auditions and shoots, self-tape equipment, headshots and showreels, casting platform subscriptions, professional classes and coaching, agent and manager commission, union subscriptions, and public liability insurance.

Clothing is the perennial question. Everyday clothes and grooming are not deductible even where the job requires a certain look, because there is an inseparable private benefit. Costumes, uniforms and specialist protective equipment are allowable.

Usage, buyout and repeat fees are part of the same trade. Track them against the original job so you can see the true value of a booking, and so a fee arriving eighteen months later is not a mystery when we reconcile the year.

Overseas work often carries withholding tax. Keep certificates and, where possible, complete treaty paperwork before the job so less is withheld at source in the first place.

Income in this profession is uneven by nature. We build a reserve from each payment, reduce payments on account after a quiet year, and look at pension contributions in strong years, which is often the most effective planning available to performers.

Source: Income Tax rates and allowances (gov.uk) · Self Assessment (gov.uk)