For many successful performers, the entertainment industry is a family business. And while stars like the Olsen twins, the Sprouse brothers, the Deschanel sisters, and the Hemsworth siblings have certainly found fame individually, they also occasionally team up — much to the delight of fans. Check out these 26 famous siblings who have appeared on screen together. (Photos via Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images + Kevin Winter/Getty Images + Frazer Harrison/Getty Images + Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal: The Gyllenhaals have a long history of working together, going all the way back to when they were children and starred in 1993's A Dangerous Woman, which was directed by their father, Stephen Gyllenhaal. They also appeared on two episodes of Food Network's Molto Mario with their mother, Naomi Foner. But most fans of the pair probably best remember them together in 2001's Donnie Darko.
Interestingly, Maggie had to be talked into the project when the film's director, Richard Kelly, approached her after casting Jake. "Immediately, she was like, 'Richard, you're only offering this to me because I'm Jake's big sister. You should be finding the best actress for the role,'" Kelly recalled to Vox in 2017. "So she was already trying to talk me out of casting her, in a very selfless way. And I was just really impressed by that. … So I was really determined to convince her to do it after that." (Photo via Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Dylan and Cole Sprouse: The Sprouse brothers got an early start in Hollywood, sharing a role on Grace Under Fire when they were babies before acting alongside Adam Sandler in 1999's Big Daddy. A few years (and a couple of direct-to-video releases) later, they got their own Disney Channel show, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, which ran from 2005 to 2008 and spawned a sequel series, The Suite Life on Deck, and a made-for-TV film, The Suite Life Movie. They also teamed up in 2009 for Adventures in Appletown, costarring Nickelodeon's Victoria Justice. (Photo via Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen: Like a lot of other siblings on this list, the Olsen twins made their on-screen debut early in life, as Michelle Tanner on Full House. The sisters became so popular that they went on to star in more than two dozen films, shows, and video series together, starting when they were just six years old and continuing into their teens. Among their many titles: To Grandmother's House We Go (1992), Double, Double, Toil and Trouble (1993), It Takes Two (1995), The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley (1994-1997), and You're Invited to Mary-Kate & Ashley's… (1995-2000). Their final acting gig together was 2004's New York Minute. Both Olsens have since retired from Hollywood to instead focus on fashion. (Photo via Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
Chris and Luke Hemsworth: We're still waiting for Chris to team up with little brother Liam, but until that happens, we'll have to settle for rewatching Thor: Ragnarok, which features a cameo from the eldest Hemsworth brother, Luke. In the film, Luke plays an actor playing Thor in a theatrical re-enactment of Thor: The Dark World, which also features Matt Damon as Loki. (Photo via Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
Derek and Julianne Hough: The Dancing With the Stars pros competed against each other on DWTS and even teamed up for North American tours in 2014, 2015, and 2017. But before they wowed crowds with their skills on the dance floor, they appeared as extras in 2001's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Julianne also starred in the 2010 movie musical Rock of Ages, which saw Derek make a brief cameo. (Photo via Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
Haylie and Hilary Duff: The Duff sisters have always been close, in work and in life. Back when Hilary starred on the Disney Channel show Lizzie McGuire, Haylie showed up occasionally as the cousin of popular girl Kate Sanders (Ashlie Brillault). And in 2006, the Duff siblings tackled their biggest project together, the film Material Girls, which saw them play — you guessed it — sisters. (Photo via Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Words With Friends 2)
Tamera, Tahj, and Tia Mowry: The Mowry twins found fame on their appropriately named Sister, Sister series, which ran for six seasons from 1994 to 1999. They also appeared together in two Disney Channel movies, 2005's Twitches and its 2007 sequel Twitches Too, in which they played twin teen witches. Tahj, for his part, guest-starred on Sister, Sister in the '90s and later joined the twins in the 2002 movie Seventeen Again (not to be confused with the 2009 film 17 Again, starring Zac Efron). (Photo via Jason Kempin/Getty Images for EGPAF)
Nick, Joe, and Kevin Jonas: Back in 2007, the Jonas Brothers appeared on an episode of Hannah Montana, starring Miley Cyrus, who later took the musical siblings on tour with her. They went on to appear opposite Demi Lovato in 2008's Camp Rock and its 2010 sequel Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam. They also scored their own series, Jonas (later renamed Jonas L.A.), which ran for two seasons on the Disney Channel. And although you didn't see them in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, they lent their voices to the cherubs in the movie. (Photo via Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
Luke and Owen Wilson: The Wilson brothers have worked together on several films, most notably Wes Anderson's directorial debut Bottle Rocket in 1996. They also worked with Anderson on 2001's The Royal Tenenbaums, which Owen co-wrote. A few years later, their brother Andrew directed them in 2008's The Wendell Baker Story. Luke later admitted that there was a little bit of sibling rivalry on set, telling People of one dispute, "Owen basically said he was done with the scene, and we didn't feel like we'd gotten it. So Andrew is like, 'You're done? You're not going to do it again?' [He] looks at me, and I'm like, 'I can't, you're bigger than he is, just kick his ass. Just kick his ass, man.'" (Photo via Lester Cohen/WireImage)
Dakota and Elle Fanning: The Fanning sisters haven't physically appeared in a scene together, but both can be seen in 2001's I Am Sam, in which Elle played a younger version of Dakota's character, Lucy. They also voiced characters in the English version of My Neighbor Totoro, so be sure to listen for Dakota as Satsuki Kusakabe and Elle as Mei Kusakabe. (Photo via Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Emily and Zooey Deschanel: The Deschanel sisters rose to fame individually and have generally kept their careers separate, but in 2009, Zooey — the star of Fox's New Girl and films including Elf and 500 Days of Summer — popped up on season 5 of her sister's show, Bones, as a distant cousin of Emily's character, Temperance Brennan. (Photo via Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
John and Joan Cusack: In a span of 25 years, John and Joan Cusack have appeared together in 10 films, including Class (1983), Sixteen Candles (1984), Grandview, USA (1984), Broadcast News (1987), Say Anything… (1989), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Cradle Will Rock (1999), High Fidelity (2000), Martian Child (2007), and War Inc. (2008). What will they team up for next? (Photo via David Livingston/Getty Images)
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures