
1. Tongue Twister: Grab your favorite swimsuit, an old jacket and a collection of shells and you’ll have a costume faster than you can say “Sally sells seashells by the seashore.” (via The House That Lars Built)
2. A Favorite Destination: Have a large cardboard box lying around? Get adventurous and use your favorite travel destination, such as the Copenhagen Row Houses, as inspiration for your costume. (via The House That Lars Built)
3. Leg Lamp: Get ready for Christmas in October with a nod to A Christmas Story. You could use an old bucket, cardboard or even a large silk lampshade. We love the retro touch this gal added! (Photo via Sebastian Jespersen)
4. Maleficent: Forgo spooky looks and release your inner villainess with this DIY Maleficent headdress. Most of us probably don’t have black vinyl casually laying around the house, but you could use black paint or duct tape for a result that is equally evil. (via Reuse and Restyle)
5. Minion: Duct tape and mason jar lids are the unusual pieces used to make this handmade mask that is anything but despicable. (via Brit + Co)
6. Scuba Diver: Grab a pair of two-liter bottles and create this scuba diver costume for your favorite little swimmer. (via The Thrifty Ginger)
7. Photo Strip: We all love a good photo booth. Find your best strip, have the images blown up and then glue them to a long strip of cardboard for one photogenic costume. (via Oh Happy Day)
8. Bat Costume: Do you have an old or broken umbrella laying around? Then these DIY bat wings need to be on your radar. Even the ears are made using the umbrella! (via All Day Chic)
9. Cotton Candy: All you need for this cotton candy costume is some cotton or stuffing from an old pillow. Dye it pink and wrap it around your little one for a super sweet newborn costume. (via Style Me Pretty)
10. Vintage Robot: This robot-inspired DIY is made solely of recycled goods such as a cardboard box and lightbulb, making it a cute, creative costume option that is also good for the environment. (via Sweet Paul Mag)
11. Wind-Up Doll: Make this wind-up key from an empty paper towel tube, then grab your favorite vintage dress for a perfect marionette-inspired look. (via Kristen Nunez)
12. Jellyfish: There are quite a few ways to dress up as this sea creature if you have an old umbrella on hand. Grab your gals for a group costume that is sure to make everyone jelly. (via Brit + Co)
13. LEGOs: Cardboard, leftover tubs and beer coozies are the pieces you need for this LEGO-inspired group costume. (via Costume Works)
14. Fantastic Mr. Fox: This Wes Anderson-inspired couples costume requires poster board and your drawing skills to create fox-faced masks. It’s anything *but* a cluster cuss. (via A Beautiful Mess)
15. Guess Who?: Leave your fellow party guests guessing with this mysterious board game costume. Simply cut out a square of cardboard, paint an old t-shirt and you have a perfect couples (or group) costume. (via Coolest Handmade Costumes)
16. Hula Skirt: Grab that extra (clean) mop head from your cupboard and whip up a hula skirt in no time. (via Martha Stewart)
17. Flower Power: Take those skills you learned in that paper flower class to the next level with this DIY hat for a chic trick-or-treat extravaganza. (via The House That Lars Built)
18. Cactus: Put that old green dress you never wear to good use this holiday by attaching some white pipe cleaners for this super succulent frock. (via Brit + Co)
Do you have any clever costume DIYs? Be sure to share with us in the comments!
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