Detroit bass player Grover „GT“ Tigue knows too well about the wildly varying rhythms of the gig economy .
Tigue has been a musician 24/7 …
Detroit bass player Grover „GT“ Tigue knows too well about the wildly varying rhythms of the gig economy. Tigue has been a musician 24/7 for the past 21 years — working on solo projects and playing over the years with groups including the No Boundaries Quartet, a hip hop group called Mama SOL & Tha N.U.T. S and an R&B funk band called Funkilinium. But he saw his bookings crash for roughly a year during the pandemic. The first few months were particularly frustrating, Tigue said, because he was doing 60 to 80 shows a year, including working weddings, before COVID-19 put a stop to live entertainment. He personally got the virus earlier in 2020. „I didn’t start gigging in 2021 until about April,“ Tigue said. More work, including playing his bass guitar one September evening at the members-only Craft Cannabis Club in Detroit, picked up as the vaccines became more readily available. One thing the pandemic should have taught everyone who is a gig worker — musicians, dog walkers, delivery drivers, you name it — is that you must keep good records when it comes to your business, mileage, expenses and income. „It’s the little things like that we as musicians or gig workers don’t know,“ said the long-time Detroiter. Tigue,56, knows musicians who faced more problems than he did trying to collect unemployment because many didn’t keep records. He collected unemployment benefits for a time but he’s still battling a fight for additional money that he claims he’s due. „I try to be the squeaky wheel in my circle of people who are phenomenally talented but don’t know anything else,“ Tigue said. „They don’t recognize how many things they can actually write off.“ The paperwork is needed at tax time — as Tigue learned too well after boxes of records, including his business journal, were lost in a move before he was audited many years ago. „You need to get a good accountant.“ The downside of picking up extra gig work is that your tax bill might be way higher than you’d imagine. Many times, people don’t set aside the cash, pay taxes as they make money or even know the complicated rules when it comes to income tax obligations. Next year, many gig workers will be shocked as tougher tax reporting standards go into place and greatly expand how many 1099-Ks are issued to those who make extra money in the gig economy. While workers should report their income, experts say, much taxable income falls through the cracks and goes unreported now in cases where there isn’t a 1099. On-demand workers can work in entertainment, drive cars, rent property, freelance, sell goods online, rent equipment, and provide creative or professional services. „What’s happened is that the IRS was focused on a W-2 economy and created a system that matched W-2s and 1099s and never totally focused on a cash-based ‚gig economy‘ such as we are moving toward now,“ said Richard Davidson, chair of the taxation and business law department at Walsh College. „So, they are playing catch-up, trying to figure out how to raise compliance. Matching payments from payors is their best strategy,“ Davidson said. The tax change was buried inside the American Rescue Act, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11. In general, many people may be familiar with a Form 1099-MISC that can involve payments of at least $600. Mark Luscombe, principal analyst for Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting, said the 1099-MISC is still used for things like rents, royalties, prizes and awards, medical and health payments and payments to attorneys.
