by Stacy Zemon
Have you made a New Year’s resolution to live a more healthy lifestyle? Well, even if you haven’t, you can decide to right now, and one important aspect of this is to have proper health insurance coverage for you and your family.
Recently, I received an email from a DJ asking if I could recommend a health insurance provider. I wanted to give him a thoughtful response, so I did a little digging and found some information on this subject that could be of value to thousands of DJ business owners.
A New Law That Benefits The Self-Employed
In December, 2010, as part of the Small Business Jobs Act, President Obama signed into law legislation that will allow the self-employed to deduct their health insurance costs as a business expense. So, if you and your family have been living without coverage, now may be the perfect time to grab some. Self-employed persons will be able to deduct their health insurance premiums as a business expense that reduces their self-employment tax and their income tax for the year 2010 only.
Who Can Claim the Self-Employed Health Insurance Deduction
- Self-employed people reporting income on Schedule F (for farmers) or Schedule C (other self-employed persons).
- General partners in a partnership and actively participating members in an LLC treated as a partnership who have self-employed income.
- Employees of an S-corporation who own 2% or more of the s-corporation’s stock.
Maximum Limit for the Insurance Deduction
Before claiming this tax deduction, you must calculate your allowable health insurance deduction. Take your self-employment income, and subtract the 50% deduction for self-employment taxes, and subtract any retirement contributions you make to SEP-IRA, SIMPLE-IRA, or Keogh plan. The remainder is your allowable deduction for health insurance expenses.
National Association for the Self-Employed
The NASE was founded in 1981, and is the largest nonprofit, nonpartisan association of its kind in the United States. They offer a Gold Membership for $45.00 a month that includes a ton of benefits, and access to health insurance policies to fit your needs and budget. Click here for a full listing of benefits.
The NASE offers access to health insurance through Assurant, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, UnitedHealthOne, Humana, and others. These companies offer a variety of health plans, which can be customized to meet the special needs of small business owners like mobile DJs. With several companies offering customizable health options, there’s a plan for nearly everyone.
How NASE Works
The NASE provides a comprehensive package of offerings and benefits to its members, including:
Value-Added Benefits
The NASE provides its members access to a full array of high-value benefits – from legal help to home office insurance to credit cards – all at discounted fees and rates. Through the organization’s consolidated buying power, NASE members receive significant savings on many products and services, from office supplies to website design. Members also receive discounts on travel services, including rental car fees and hotels. Access to a variety of healthcare insurance plans is also available, including major medical, prescription drug, as well as dental and vision plans.
Focused ‘How-To’ Resources
The NASE offers small business owners a wide range of educational benefits and tools to help them run their business. Members are automatically mailed a copy of the NASE’s bi-monthly member magazine, “Self-Employed.” Members can access even more articles and resources online through the NASE’s Health Resource Center and Tax Resource Center, among others. NASE Members also have unlimited access to the NASE consultants to ask tax, finance, retirement and/or operations questions.
College Scholarships
The NASE’s Scholarship Program provides annual financial scholarships to children and dependents of NASE Members. The NASE’s Future Entrepreneur Scholarship is the largest scholarship in the nation devoted to the promotion of entrepreneurship among young people. Over $1.3 million has been awarded since the scholarship program was launched in 1989.
Take Advantage of these Resources
I hope you’ll take advantage of all of the Small Business Jobs Act benefits to which you are entitled as a mobile entertainment business owner. Also, the nase.org website is chock full of helpful links and resources, and in my opinion, is well worth taking a thorough look through.
In the words of Mr. Spock, “Live Long and Prosper!”
Stacy Zemon, Publisher and Chief Scribe
Stacy Zemon is widely considered an authority on the disc jockey business. She has become a distinguished industry leader over the course of her illustrious 30+ year career as a DJ Entertainer. To her credit, Stacy has spawned more professional disc jockey business owners than anyone else in the DJ industry! She is author of the world’s best-selling DJ books: The Mobile DJ Handbook, The DJ Sales & Marketing Handbook and The Mobile DJ MBA, and is a longtime writer for DJ Times magazine. Stacy’s mission is to provide educational resources for DJs that support their professional growth and financial prosperity. Write to her c/o Stacy@ProMobileDJ.com or call 877-442-7170. For the longer version of Stacy’s story, click here. To learn about Stacy’s business consulting services, click here.
