Self-employed musicians (gigging and wedding bands, solo acts, session players, singers and DJs paid per job) can generally deduct the ordinary and necessary costs of performing: instruments and gear, strings and repairs, rehearsal and studio time, travel to gigs and on tour, promotion, dues, and fees paid to agents and other players. Business meals are only partly deductible (IRS Publication 463), a home studio has to meet the regular-and-exclusive-use test (Publication 587), and a costly instrument may be expensed or depreciated. W-2 employee musicians follow different rules. Estimates — confirm with your tax professional.
Self-employment income is reportable whether or not anyone sends a 1099 (IRS Publication 334), so log every payment:
- Venue checks and cash tips: open Add Income (Income on mobile) → Log Income, then choose Log income by voice, From screenshot or PDF, From CSV or Or enter manually. Every path shows a review screen before anything is saved, and entries go to the Income tab of your Google Sheet. Saying "$400 cash from Friday's gig plus $80 in Venmo tips" creates two separate entries.
- Categories: gig fees → Service income; tips → Tips (kept separate from gig fees); merch → Product sales; royalties → Royalties. For merch sold through a card reader, record the gross sale and put the processor's cut in Fees; Tax Collected holds sales tax you charged.
- Venmo and Cash App tips: with Also track income emails (beta) on (Settings → Automation Hub → Gmail scanning), payment emails that reach a connected Gmail are added to the Income tab. Review them: in Review income, Omit removes a payment that isn't business income, and Owner contribution / personal deposit keeps money you moved in yourself out of revenue.
- Deposited checks: Add Income → Match bank deposits lists linked-bank deposits that aren't recorded yet.
Costs: Scan Gmail for receipts & income picks up online gear, software and travel receipts; Upload Receipts takes paper receipts; Add Manual Expense or an email to receipts@expensebot.ai with a subject starting cash: (for example cash: $12 strings) records costs with no receipt. For mileage to gigs, put the venue address in the Google Calendar event's Location field and use Add Travel Expense → Import from Calendar; you choose which trips to log.
To see what each tour or band earns, tag income and expenses with the same label and ask the chat for "Per-tag P&L this year". At tax time, My Reports → Year-End builds a report with expenses by category, the mileage log, Schedule C pre-fill and Schedule SE download (US) or T2125 pre-fill (Canada), and an Income Statement tab. ExpenseBot does not file returns, handle merch inventory, run band payroll or split income between band members. Streaming and platform payouts belong on the content creator tracker.
Full guide: https://www.expensebot.ai/musician-tax-deductions