If You're Still in the Industry- Heed the Advice of Retired SWs- Get Your Shit Together!

  "Sex work". Literally self explanatory and calling it "work" would clearly be redundant. It's honest work and if you are as smart as I know you are, you should start investing in your future; if you've not done so already. For starters, download and print IRS forms 4070 and 4070A, which are specifically for the purpose of tracking all tipped income; form 4070 is the form the IRS now requires you turn into the owner of whatever establishment you work at, for tax reasons. This may mean you have to start filing taxes but on the plus side, column D on all IRS issued tip ledgers are for you to write full names of everyone you tip out and the amount. This will allow the IRS to cross-reference those names and make sure everyone you paid out claimed every dollar you paid them. Translation, your asshat club owners are fucked out of a lot of cash they take illegally; and you definitely do not pay the IRS 60% or more of your gross income. Which is what your boss is stealing from you and most likely laundering through a secondary business so as not to arouse suspicion. The owner of a dead club living in a 1.5 million dollar home might look suspicious if they had no way to hide the cash they take, which pays for their homes, in case you were wondering. The only people paying for that house are the strippers they rob. End it. Start keeping track of your income, expenses, tip outs etc on ONE piece of paper you can print off the IRS website. Your employer keeps a ledger and you keep form 4070A for your own records. This means the owner is responsible for filing everyone's ledgers and it will make them unable to take most of you cash..

 *****FYI***** IRS tip ledgers have always required this information, but as of Jan 1, 2020 the tip laws changed and the 4070/4070A employer/employee ledgers became law; meaning your records and those the club has on file must match! If every stripper had filled out ledgers to file with their 1099MISC forms -which even come in booklets with carbon copies- then the IRS would have found out about the mislabeling and blatant theft long ago; not to mention making trafficking a whole lot more difficult. It is law that all clubs keep some sort of ID on file for all dancers. Movig on...

 Now that you know how to stop your dickhead boss from robbing you blind and you can actually BE a real contractor, get a financial advisor or take a personal financing class. Paying and filing taxes is a great start, but ultimately not enough to insure your future. They will do everything from teach you how to properly budget an unstable income to help you invest in stock options. Plan for retirement, but sadly, on a much shorter scale as this job has a different expiration date for us all. If I wanted to, I would still have a few years left in me, but I am so done! Start small.. Now some helpful tips for tracking this impossible income...

 1) NEVER count your daily income, but look at it weekly or monthly to get an idea of your average income. Try not to forget slow seasons..

 2) Take a dollar amount or a chosen percentage of your weekly income and put it aside. Not as a means of saving money, but saving extra money in addition to whatever you're trying to save up for. Vacations, a car etc. Even if it's $50 a week. That's still $2,400 annually and you can think of that as the money you usually spend on completely useless shit; which now helped fund that vacation you've been wanting to take with your friends. Again, I would know.. Been there, done that.

 3) What was your goal when you got into the industry? Chances are, it had to do with copious amounts of cash at hand and at least some sort of idea for your future; am I right? So then why lave the industry with the same desperation you had upon entering? Unsure of what to do next, how to make money that equals the six figure cash income you squandered away year by year. Why leave with nothing to show for your hard work? That won't help raise any stigmas so... Don't. Just... don't.

 4) Start teaching other dancers your new tricks (not on the pole, silly!), get them all to start being responsible for their own futures and fuck the boss (metaphorically, NOT literally) in the process. Those ledgers will save your future, but it means being a grown up and claiming your income, or your boss will continue to rob you blind..

 5) Look up IRS form SS-8, Determination of worker status. Be sure to include a copy of your most recently filed taxes or they will return the application requesting the aforementioned tax return; or they cannot determine your actual status. Once they do, if you don't like the answer, change it. Despite filing a 1099MISC, you'll be labeled an employee by the IRS and required to file form 1040 for tipped workers. You don't wan't that? Fix it. By now you know how (for the daft.. WHAT have I been going on about? Hint: taxes). Wanna be a contractor? Well....

 6) Download and print IRS for SS-4, application for EIN (employer ID number aka your tax ID). I'll make it easy, on page 2 of the form are the directions, you're the "sole owner/employee" LLC, the absolute last on the list of options, and you can skip the entire middle section of the application. IF you do not have a tax ID, by law, you should not be allowed to work; or rather, the club must assist you in filing the SS-4 form, and they are required to include their own tax information on your form. The reason you don't know this? You're mislabeled and shit.. Their entire goal is to get as much money as possible and pay as little tax as possible. However, federal law does mandate that all hiring entities must be responsible for keeping track of contractor tax IDs. IF they hire you sans EIN, they must file one for you upon hiring.. Please don't make me explain the logic behind THAT one. Tax evasion comes in many forms..

 7) Download and print IRS form 3949-A and report your shitty boss for mislabeling you, check off the boxes that say "failure to file/pay employee tax', "unsubstantiated income", "unreported cash income" and whatever else applies. Mail it. You're done. Make all your coworkers file one. You can have what you want, but you have to work for it and I am literally writing the "how to" guide. So read this again!

 8) As of right now, what do you have planned and what has COVID taught you after your career came to a screeching halt? Were you prepared? If the answer is "no", then heed this advice and make sure that next time it's "yes".

 Remember, you are in control of your own life and nobody is ever going to do anything for you. You have the tools to succeed, use them!