u/hurricanecook

Hello r/taxhelp! First time posting, so not sure if this question has been asked and answered frequently in the past.

I’m a classical musician, and take gigs from time to time. It’s never been much. I have a full time job in arts management, it occasionally took gigs for fun, extra money, etc. As a 1099, I’d make no more than like $3-$4000 per year as a contractor. This was never a big deal. The money I’d owe would just come out of the refund my wife and I would receive.

Well, happily I just took a position as a conductor! I’ll be starting at $55,000 per year, but as a 1099. Doing some basic research, I can tell the tax implications will be pretty severe. I was wondering if there are any interesting routes I could pursue to help shelter some of the tax burden. I’ve dumped this question into an AI and it gave me a few options like a Solo 401k, HYSAs, paying tax quarterly, etc.

Any other ideas/pitfalls/creative routes to take.

Also, and this seemed a bit bizarre, the treasurer of the org said we could convert this job into a W2 position. Healthcare is already provided by my arts management job, so that;s already taken care of. Would it be burdensome to covert this position to a W2 for my treasurer? Should I pursue this route?