A Public Service Announcement From The Owners Of The Boleyn Models Network
Myth #1 – Owning An LLC. Will Shield Your Identity.
Having an LLC doen’t work in this way. It’s true that you may be able to operate under another business name, but this will not protect your from an extremely public registry that will link your company name from your real name. It’s possible to solicit the help of a law firm to assist with shielding your name from public view, but even then there’s no guarantee that you will be safe from exposure. If you’re a new business owner looking to cut down on expenses then a sure way to do so is to NOT acquire an LLC. It may look shiny and inviting when those “LLC Setup Package” marketers come along, but the truth is this could make it easier to be found and quite possibly stalked.
Myth #2 – An LLC Will Hide Your Adult Work On “Permanent Records”
Once you decide if your willing to put your government name and social security number on a Schedule C form, or your brand new LLC name combined with an EIN on the same document, it doesn’t matter. No matter what your 1040 form will link to your real name. Therefor anyone researching your taxes will also see your job codes and income sources precisely and clearly. You will be misled by thinking that an LLC protects you in cases where you may need to disclose income sources to a mortgage company. There is no protection in this scenario. On the bright side despite all of your pics and clips being online, there isn’t a “magical database” that any licensing or HR department can reference that will tell them that you’re a sex worker. Fortunately it doesn’t work like that.
Myth #3 – An LLC Will Shield You From Taxes.
As a sole-proprietor, you are not shielded from paying any kind of taxes simply by having a sole-proprietor LLC. To reap any tax benefit at all, you have to take the additional steps of setting yourself up as a C-Corporation. This is time-consuming and expensive – the costs often far exceed the tax advantages unless you’ve reached baller status. In which case feel free to hire a CPA to assist you with your record keeping. Most CPA’s bill by the hour and can help you maintain your corporate paperwork.
In addition to all of the myths stated above, owning an LLC can create major complications for B2B interactions. Your chosen bank as well as any adult site you do business will need extert a great deal of manual labor while giving special attention to your LLC status.
- Bank transfers for business to business fall under different rules, and have higher fees than simple business-to-personal payroll transactions. Unlike personal accounts, banks are also happy to charge you in many cases for simply opening and maintaining an EIN-linked business account. They can also stop doing business with you entirely unless you have some good answers for them about what your business entails. They don’t ask such questions or care when it comes to personal accounts.
- Switching from SSN to EIN with adult websites may also have mixed results and create a complicated web on your tax returns for the first year. Some will simply switch you over and credit the whole year to your EIN, some will make you reform your account (and you’ll receive 2 1099’s), and some will pretend you never talked to them and you’ll still be getting your 1099 on your SSN for years.
Legit Reasons For A Cammodel To Incorporate
- Your operation includes more than just you. You can technically issue a 1099 as a private person, but any more complex employment or payroll tax requirements should be handled by a registered business with an EIN. If you have any personal staff assisting with your camming that you have hired, you should incorporate. This gives a completely legit payroll (keeping the IRS happy), allows you to shift tax burden (and reduce it overall), and creates a paper trail to prove everyone was paid what they were owed.
- You do high-risk or dangerous work (outside of cammodeling). For example, if you’re a BDSM dominatrix doing house-calls as part of your income. This actually entails a degree of risk and liability should you crush someone’s testicles and cause permanent injury. An LLC would help shield your personal assets in the case of a lawsuit. In other words, if you have any risk of being sued for anything. If you are just a cammodel doing normal cammodel things (and working through legit adult pay processors), you don’t have such a risk.
- You are balling out of control. Personally, I would say aim for at least the $60,000 to $80,000 a year range before even thinking about getting an LLC as a cammodel. At this point, the extra hassle of keeping up with the paperwork and paying the right people to do everything correctly might actually be worth it. The potential loss of privacy is also compensated by the fact you’re banking so who really gives a f***?
What’s most concerning for me is when I see cammodels who work part time making under $30,000 being convinced by marketers (or sometimes their fellow cammodels) that LLC’s are some sort of magical solution. This is simply not true and are a counter-productive expense that for the average cammodel is completely unnecessary. Yes, owning an LLC as a cammodel may have it’s uses, but it’s very rare.
