You shoot. You don't track §179 elections and multi-state nexus from a destination wedding. We expense the cameras, lenses, and computers in year one, elect S-Corp at the right income, and stop the drone from sitting uninsured against the deduction.
Photography is not a Specified Service Trade or Business under §199A, so the full 20% QBI deduction is available even above the threshold. The gear question is bigger: $30K to $50K of cameras, lenses, drones, computers, and storage either expenses immediately under §179 plus 60% bonus depreciation, or you wait 5 years to recover it. We pick year one.
Sony A1, Canon R5, Sigma Art lenses, MacBook Pro, monitors, calibration tools, and external SSDs all qualify for §179 expensing up to $1,160,000 for 2024. Plus 60% bonus depreciation on the overflow. We time purchases to land in your highest-revenue year so the deduction offsets the income.
IRC §179(d); §168(k); Rev. Proc. 2023-34Bonus depreciation is 60% for assets placed in service in 2024, 40% for 2025, 20% for 2026. Anything not §179-eligible (or above the §179 cap) still gets bonus on the depreciable basis. We stack §179 first then bonus to maximize the year-one deduction on a full kit refresh.
IRC §168(k); §168(k)(6) phase-down scheduleDrones over $2,500 qualify for §179 or bonus depreciation. Drone insurance through State Farm, BWI, or Avion is fully deductible. Part 107 commercial certification fees, knowledge test renewals, and remote ID compliance gear are §162 ordinary business expenses. A crash without insurance is a deductible casualty loss only if you can prove it.
IRC §162(a); §165 casualty; 14 CFR Part 107Flights, hotels, and meals (50% deductible) at destination weddings deduct under §162 once the trip is primarily business. But the bigger trap is state tax: shooting a wedding in another state can create economic nexus and a non-resident state filing. We track multi-state shoots and file the right state returns so nothing surprises you 18 months later.
IRC §162(a); §274(n); state econ. nexus thresholdsThe $400 you spent on a photographer-specific contract template, $200 on second-shooter agreements, and the LegalZoom LLC filing are all deductible startup costs (§195) or §162 if already operating. We separate organizational from start-up so the $5K immediate election under §195(b) works correctly.
IRC §195(b); §162(a); Treas. Reg. §1.195-1A wedding or commercial photographer netting $150K+ after gear saves $8K to $18K per year on self-employment tax with an S-Corp election. We benchmark reasonable comp against BLS photographer wage data plus a producer/owner premium, run payroll, and time the late election if you missed March 15.
IRC §1362; §1402(a); Rev. Proc. 2013-30Wedding photographer, age 35, $220K gross revenue, $145K net, prior preparer used straight-line 5-year MACRS on $42K of new gear and never proposed the S-Corp. We elected S-Corp, set reasonable comp at $80K, and ran §179 plus bonus on the full kit.
$18,000 savedFederal SE tax savings from the S-Corp distribution split and federal income tax savings from accelerating $42K of gear from 5-year MACRS into year one §179. State savings on top.