10-26-07
That Which We Call a Rose...
“... By any other name would smell as sweet,” wrote Shakespeare. Great poetry, and a profound insight about the triviality of names. (Much better than the playground doggerel about “sticks and stones....”)
But as you know, tax authorities dote on the trivial. Applying Shakespeare’s maxim in life can cause all sorts of problems.
Les Nommes de Guerre
A while back, I met with a young actor just starting in the business. He had experimented with several different stage names before returning to his own, which is easily pronounced but distinctly German. As we talked about his choices, we were both struck by how rare stage names have become. There is no longer the expectation that famous performers (other than character actors) have names that are short, easily spelled and easily pronounced—and absolutely not identifiably of any ethnicity not originating in the British Isles or perhaps Scandinavia. While I’m sure the decline of the Hollywood studio system facilitated the transition, I think the profound change in Americans’ acceptance of diversity that followed the civil rights movement of the ’60s and the women’s movement of the ’70s drove the practice into obscurity.
The expectations were opposite in some other arts, and to a degree still are. “Everyone knew” that ballet dancers were Russian and opera singers Italian (unless they were Wagner specialists), and American dancers and singers often adopted Russian or Italian stage names. I know an Italian-American opera singer who has actually been given auditions because people thought he was from Italy instead of from Queens.
Your Name Is Taken
Mostly, we see stage names now because the performing arts unions won’t allow duplicate names—almost as a form of trademark protection. It’s bad enough that there are two or three different stage adaptations of Phantom of the Opera; one wants to be sure of seeing the correct Michael Crawford. Often, these are simple variations on the name the performer has always used. A middle initial can be added, or Kathleen Hart became Caitlin Hart when she joined the union.
These changes pose little or no problem for tax authorities. The name and Social Security number match is close enough, if not perfect.
But some performers still create entire new names. Perhaps their real name is taken by somebody so famous that no variation would work (“Brad W. Pitt,” anyone?) or unpronounceable by English speakers (most anybody from Kyrzygstan) or simply tainted (“Michael Hitler”). Some see a name change as a symbolic rebirth.
When the name and Social Security number don’t match, trouble lies ahead.
Hit by a Ricochet
Historically, the Social Security Administration compared wage data reported to it with its database to ensure earnings were appropriately credited for Social Security. “No-match” letters would be sent to employers, asking for clarification of discrepancies. Later, the IRS began comparing its records each year to the SSA database, mostly as an anti-fraud measure.
Now, the Bush administration wants to throw no-match letters into that unpleasant stew of xenophobia and racism that underlies much of our government’s attempts to stem illegal immigration. Their plan would force employers to fire any employee whose name discrepancy was not resolved within 90 days.
Due process and other constitutional issues aside, the plan has a major flaw. The SSA’s own inspector general reported last year that 17.8 million of the agency’s 435 million individual records were wrong in ways that could result in no-match letters being sent to legal workers, and that most (12.7 million) of those errors related to US-born citizens. The matter is now in court, and the Bush administration has so far been barred from putting it into effect.
But if they do, anyone with a stage name may well understand how those packinghouse workers feel when somebody yells, “°Migra!”
Practical Solutions
The simplest solution is to make sure all your legal documents bear your legal name. It’s quite all right to tell the company manager that your legal and stage names differ, and to have your paychecks (and W-2 forms) issued under the real one. Producers are used to it, and will be grateful not to have to answer IRS notices a year or two hence.
Those who truly live under their professional names (that is, use them off stage as well as on) will find that there are occasional lapses on tax documents. In those cases, I normally attach a statement to every tax return that “X is a performer known professionally under the name Y.” Usually this works, though one still occasionally encounters a low-level IRS employee who becomes confused or huffy. I even had one demand that a client legally change her name; that agent’s supervisor quickly backed down.
Role Reversal
Occasionally, I encounter a married couple, motivated by ideas of fairness and equality, who want to alternate which name appears first on the tax forms, that is, husband’s name first in odd-numbered years, wife’s in even-numbered years. I don’t know a better way to guarantee receiving notices from the IRS. The computer files are indexed under one Social Security number, that which appears first. If that person is not first the next year, out comes the notice—untouched by human hands—wanting to know why he or she didn’t file a tax return in that second year.
When they complain about the sexist rigidity of this, I point out two things to these couples. First, nothing says it has to be the husband’s name first. Second, as recently as 1987, the IRS had no place on the forms for the spouse’s surname. They assumed that the wife always took her husband’s name, and had great difficulty in handling situations where the married couples kept different surnames.
Of course, you can always do what two of my clients did a few years ago: both husband and wife took a new surname when they married. We can’t wait to see what the IRS makes of that one.
Are there money or tax questions you would like to see discussed in this column? Let me know, at 2835 N. Sheffield, Suite 311, Chicago, IL 60657, or call 773/515-1778 (888/525-1778 toll free outside the Chicago area).
Greg Mermel is a certified public accountant whose clients in the arts range from individual performers to major theatre companies and suppliers. He also sometimes produces theatre.