Second shooters are a common term in the wedding photography industry, but knowing how to file their pay for taxes is not as common.

Today we are going to go over how to correctly file second shooter pay for taxes

A second shooter is a photographer that joins you on a wedding day to help photograph all of the different parts of the day. They use their own equipment, but for the day, they are working under your business name. Most commonly, they are paid on a session-by-session basis. In these situations, when it comes to taxes, a second shooter is considered an independent contractor.

Great! What does that mean?

This means that their pay falls under a 1099-NEC. A form that reports all non-employee pay. To have a 1099-NEC created, you will want to send the second shooter a W-2 to fill out. This will grab all of the necessary information needed for your accountant to create the 1099-NEC and have it sent to your second shooter, so they can file the income, as well, on their taxes.

Do you have several second shooters that work with you throughout the year? Did me saying this give you a panic about all of the extra communication and work you now have to do to gather all this information? I have some good news. You only need to do this for second shooters that you paid more than $600 in a year. If someone only photographed one wedding for you, and they made less than $600, then you don’t need to worry about sending them a W-2.

So, when do you need to take care of this each year?

1099-NEC’s are due on Jan. 31st, so you don’t incur a penalty, and your second shooters have it in time to file it with their taxes. Reach out to your second shooters (that this pertains to) in December or early January at the latest, so they have time to fill out the W-2 and get it back to you. Then pass the form on to your accountant for them to create the 1099-NEC and send to the necessary recipient.

Then you are good to go for the year.

Just make sure that you include the expenses in your taxes and that they include the income in theirs. If not, there is always a chance it could get flagged, and you would be penalized for not reporting it.

If you found this helpful and want to learn more about tax expense breakdowns, click here to grab my FREE 15 Business Tax Categories Breakdown and follow along for more tips!

XOXO ~ Heather Marie

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