- As independent businesses, creators often have to deal with complex tax problems on their own.
- New app Able hopes to solve that by being the go-to place for creators’ income-management.
- The app offers tools to determine post-tax earnings or takes out taxes from payments.
Being a creator isn’t only about glamour shots, viral videos, and personalized merch. As with any small business owner, creators have to deal with some less sexy work, including taxes.
In many jobs, employers withhold taxes throughout the year and a W-2 form spells out earnings in one place. But creators are independent contractors who have to do it all on their own, and with a variety of income streams.
“I would scream when I got my tax bill,” tapdancer and creator Maud Arnold said. “It was a complete guessing game.”
A new app, Able, hopes to help creators with that through various tools to plan for taxes and manage income. The company has raised $3.3 million from the likes of
Twitch
cofounder Kevin Lin, Robinhood COO Nathan Rodland, and VCs like Elefund and Moonshots Capital, as well as more than 30 influencers like YouTubers Evan Fong (VanossGaming) and Phil DeFranco, TikToker Kris Collins, and Arnold (the tapdancer).
“People are getting paid in a way that’s different and there are things that can catch them off guard,” CEO and certified CPA Vince Cortese said, pointing to his experience with creators around tax day. “We saw all these platforms coming up and allowing more and more people to earn money, that meant the problem is only going to get bigger.”
Able was founded by creator studio and management company 3BLACKDOT’s former CEO Angelo Pullen and former CFO Cortese. The app offers tools like a virtual wallet that tracks how much money a creator has across bank accounts, apps like Venmo and Zelle, and cryptocurrency wallets, and the tax implications of each.
There’s also a calculator that helps creators figure out what they will take home post-tax from any particular gig, helping them to set a rate, and a tool that sets aside money from each payment for taxes. Another feature helps creators invoice over email or text. The company said each feature had been bounced off of Able’s slate of creator investors, as well as other beta testers.
“All the money is taken out of the account before I see, it so I know what is mine is mine,” said Tyler Petroni, a personal trainer who helped test the app. “The ease of it was the biggest thing for me. I thought I’d be overwhelmed, but the …….
Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/startup-able-wants-to-help-creators-manage-money-and-taxes-2021-10