By: Dr. Tamara Patzer
October 12, 2026
In brief: Brand deals, platform payouts and product launches rarely arrive on a schedule. A New Orleans tax attorney explains what creators who run real businesses should ask about entity choices, the surtax on investment income and the people who should be on the team, using current IRS and federal data.
A creator’s year rarely looks like a salary. One month brings a brand campaign, the next a quiet stretch, and then a product launch or a licensing check lands all at once. That pattern is exactly what makes planning hard, because tax rules respond to the total for the year and not to the way the money felt as it came in. Todd M. Villarrubia, a New Orleans attorney who focuses on tax and estate planning, wrote Entrepreneurial B.E.A.S.T. Mode™ for business owners who want their structure to keep up with their success. Creators who treat their work as a business can borrow much of it.
Is a Creator Really a Business Owner?
Once the work earns money on a regular basis and someone other than you depends on it, the answer is usually yes. The U.S. Small Business Administration counts 36,207,130 small businesses in the country, and they employ 62.3 million people4. A creator with a manager, an editor or a part-time assistant belongs in that picture, whether or not the company has a formal name.
The practical consequence is that the questions owners ask apply here too. What entity holds the income? Who signs the contracts? Which accounts are personal and which belong to the company? A creator who cannot answer those in a minute has found the first item of work.
Why Does a Lumpy Year Matter for Taxes?
Because thresholds are set by annual totals. The IRS says the 3.8 percent Net Investment Income Tax applies when modified adjusted gross income passes $200,000 for a single filer or $250,000 for a joint return1. A year with a large one-time payment, such as the sale of a brand, a licensing deal or the sale of an asset, can push an income across a line that earlier years never approached.
At the far end of the scale, the Tax Foundation’s analysis of IRS data found that a filer needed about $676,000 of adjusted gross income in tax year 2023 to be counted in the top 1% nationally3. Most creators will never be near that. A few will pass it in one remarkable year and drop back. The planning question is the same either way: what happens to the tax picture in the year the number jumps, and who is watching for it?
What Does the Entity Choice Change?
A great deal, and it is a choice that can be made in more than one way. The IRS explains that an eligible entity can use Form 8832 to elect whether it will be classified as a corporation, a partnership or an entity disregarded as separate from its owner2. In plain terms, the legal wrapper and the tax treatment are separate decisions.
Villarrubia makes the point in the book: “Every entity can be taxed differently depending on elections made with the IRS.” A creator who formed a company years ago and never looked at the election may be taxed in a way that no longer fits. The reverse can also happen. A creator who has never formed anything may be holding contracts, equipment and accounts in a personal name without realizing what that exposes.
Where Do Creators Usually Run Into Trouble?
Not in the creative work. The common problem is that the business grows faster than the paperwork. Contracts are signed in a personal name. Revenue comes into one account that also pays the grocery bill. A collaborator is paid informally. A trademark or a domain name sits under an employee’s login.
The book describes why business owners fall into this pattern. In the author’s words, “Understandably, they don’t know; they have empires to build, not tax codes to read.” That sentence is a fair description of anyone whose attention belongs on the work. It is also the reason to have an attorney and a tax professional who read the codes on the owner’s behalf.
What Does a Stronger Structure Look Like?
It starts with a simple principle that Villarrubia repeats. “The business structure goes beyond simple liability protection; it serves as the chassis upon which the entire wealth system is constructed.” A creator does not need an elaborate arrangement to apply the idea. Many advisers begin with a company that actually holds the contracts, a bank account used only for the company and clear records of what is owed to whom.
From there the details depend on the creator’s situation: how many people work in the business, whether income comes from several sources, whether any assets such as studio equipment, a trademark or real estate should be held separately. A licensed attorney can say. The article cannot, because the answer depends on facts that only the creator and the advisers know.
What Should Be on the Checklist This Quarter?
A short list does more good than a long plan.
• Name the entity that signs your contracts, and confirm it exists and is in good standing.
• Find out how that entity is classified for tax, and when that was decided.
• Separate business and personal money, so that every payment can be traced.
• Estimate this year’s income early and ask your tax professional what thresholds you might cross.
• List who can access your accounts, your domains and your platforms if you cannot.
• Ask your lawyer and your tax professional to speak to each other at least once.
None of that is glamorous. All of it makes the next lumpy year easier to survive.
Who Needs to Be on the Team?
At least four kinds of professional: an attorney, a tax professional, a financial adviser and an insurance adviser. The book insists that they work as a team and not as strangers. In the author’s phrase, “the quality of your advisors determines the ceiling on your legacy”. A creator who builds a team early finds that decisions become faster, since the people who need to agree have already met.
Common Questions
Do I need a company if I am just starting out? Not always. A licensed attorney can say whether it makes sense now or later, based on income, contracts and risk.
Is the investment-income surtax a tax on all my income? No. The IRS describes it as a tax on net investment income for people above the thresholds1. Whether it touches a creator’s income depends on the source and the amount, and a tax professional should say.
Should I change my entity because of an article? No. Treat this as a list of questions to bring to an attorney and a tax professional.
Sources
• Internal Revenue Service, Topic no. 559, Net Investment Income Tax
• Internal Revenue Service, About Form 8832, Entity Classification Election
• Tax Foundation, Who Pays Federal Income Taxes? Tax Year 2023
• U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, Frequently Asked Questions About Small Businesses 2026
About the author. Dr. Tamara Patzer is a publisher and former newspaper editor. She was on the staff of The Charlotte Sun when it was named a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for its Hurricane Charley coverage.
About the source. Todd M. Villarrubia is an attorney with an LL.M. in Taxation and a Juris Doctorate. He is an Accredited Estate Planner, a Board Certified Expert in Estate Planning and Administration, and a Fiduciary Investment Advisor Representative. He is the author of Entrepreneurial B.E.A.S.T. Mode™. Wealth Planning Law Group, 101 W. Robert E. Lee Blvd., Ste 404, New Orleans, LA 70124. Phone: 504-982-8207; email: todd@lawealthplan.com; website: lawealthplan.com.
Disclaimer: Attorney advertising. Sponsored feature written on behalf of Todd M. Villarrubia. This article is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Results vary.
