Real Music & Real Estate . . .

Yiddishe Cup’s bandleader, Bert Stratton, is Klezmer Guy.
 

He knows about the band biz and – check this out – the real estate biz, too.
 

You may not care about the real estate biz. Hey, you may not care about the band biz. (See you.)
 

This is a blog with a gamy twist. It features tenants with snakes and skunks, and musicians with smoked fish in their pockets.
 

Stratton has written op-eds for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post.


 
 

APPRECIATING DEPRECIATION

by Bert Stratton

 

I like to pay taxes.  I like to do the forms.

My dad taught me to do taxes.  Some dads teach their sons to fix cars.  My dad taught me to fix taxes.  He even kept two sets of books: one pencil, one ink.

These self-made guys — like my dad —  often kept two sets of books.

The second-generation, like me, usually go legit.

I got audited.  I didn’t take an accountant with me.  I left with a credit.

Landlords handle a lot of cash — rents, security deposits.  That’s why I got audited.

Always count cash in front of the custodian to make sure the custodian isn’t skimming.  The custodian can “rent” an apartment for a couple extra days and not tell you.  You should pop in occasionally on those “unoccupied” suites.

Here’s some entertainment law: What happens if you wear a costume for performance and off-stage too?  If it’s just on-stage, you can deduct it — and dry cleaning — as an expense.

I like keeping records.  This is the age of documentation and investigation.  Enjoy.

My bandmates appreciate my attention to detail,  I think.  My musicians never seem to know what they’ve made until I tell them at the end of the year.
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2 of 2 posts for 8/19/09

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2 comments

1 bill jones { 08.19.09 at 9:52 am }

Nu, how about your expenses for promotion — like this blog? And what’s the line on clothing? Does underwear get included, or only if you’re Madonna?

2 Ben Cohen { 08.19.09 at 12:05 pm }

Last year I bought a western-style shirt for my Jewgrass band, Shalom Feivel and Rocky Mountain Jewgrass. That ain’t street wear — at least not for me — so I took the deduction.

The big western clothing store out here in Denver, where I bought the shirt, is Sheplers. I find it almost impossible not to call it Schleppers. I buy riding boots for my daughter there, for her summer horse camp. “Time to go to Schleppers for new boots.” She always corrects me. She’ll come around in time . . .

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