As we're all painfully aware, Monday, April 17, is this year's tax deadline. For the average 9-to-5 schmo, that means scrounging through a pile of employment forms, bank statements and gas receipts for stuff to write off. Of course, some people try deducting every receipt in the house, from so-called business meetings (lunch at Scores) to electronics (the webcam is for what, exactly?).
This column is not a replacement for advice from a qualified tax professional.
Related Content
More About
For those employed by the music industry -- more specifically, in the celebrity industry -- tax day is a chance to let your creativity shine. When your job description includes dealing with tabloids, entertainment reporters, and the occasional lawsuit, the sky's the limit for what you can deduct. (Really. *NSYNC's would-be cosmonaut Lance Bass tried writing off the troposphere before his flight got canceled.) So as you rack up your last-minute deductions, Shrapnel offers this list of rock-star write-offs to keep in mind for next year.
Henry Rollins --Hank spent a good chunk of last year's income on his upcoming autobiographical film, Dude, Where's My Neck?. The cost was split equally between production and nutrition, with nearly $7,500 of the film's budget going to weight-gainer's fuel, energy bars, and supplements we've never heard of (gluten-free glute boosters?).
Yanni --It's no surprise the New Age music maven spends a pretty penny on French manicures and hand massages. After all, during the recent domestic dispute case brought on by his girlfriend, Yanni's attorney argued that the keyboardist would never do anything to hurt his hands. In fact, Yanni said he grabbed the woman only after she kicked him in the nads. However, according to the receipt he submitted from a local store called Guard Your Goods (pictured), the Manalapan resident must have foreseen the attack.
Fall Out Boy --As headliners of the Nintendo Fusion Tour, Fall Out Boy has its Game Cube merch covered. But for PS2 games, they have to pony up to Sony. Just don't tell Nintendo. There could be some serious, um, fallout.
Scott Stapp --The former Creed singer and current has-been filed an interesting receipt from last November -- boxing lessons totaling $311.
50 Cent --In 2005, the rapper was busy working on his first (and, hopefully, last) movie, Get Rich or Die Tryin'. He must have been really busy. According to a Waldenbooks receipt, 50 bought a copy of Screenwriting for Dummies a good month after the film came out.
Wayne Coyne --The Flaming Lips' lead man is known for rolling on top of his audience in a giant, plastic orb. Some may think it's just a stage gimmick, but Coyne's Netflix rentals prove otherwise. To wit: The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, The Billion Dollar Bubble, Bubble Trouble, The Bubble People, and Bubble Boy. We're guessing he's seen this year's Bubble.
Axl Rose --He's still working on his taxes from 1994. But they'll be done by the end of this year. He swears.
