You’re an artist, not an accountant.

You want to focus on landing the coolest gigs and creating industry-recognized work, but you also have to keep your financial house in order. Even if you already have an accountant, MBO Partners offers many benefits that you can take advantage of, like business insurance, medical insurance, and retirement savings plans.

By signing up, you gain the convenience of doing your taxes on a single W-2 rather than managing multiple income sources and 1099s. Go from project to project with many different studios and continue to get paid without the hassle of keeping up with IRS forms. A stable, consistent financial and employment history may even help you to quality for personal loans.

These days, many studios require freelance VFX artists and animators to operate within a business structure rather than as a 1099. Our service is a simple and easy way for you to meet the studios’ requirements. MBO Partners has relationships with a growing roster of studios, making it easier for you to work with these clients. We can easily set up new studios in our system, so you can get started on your projects quickly and the studios you work with will be protected from 1099 reclassification risks.

It’s not all about the money.

While the day rates of freelancing can be nice, you still have to cover your insurances and other benefits, and it can be difficult to get into good group programs.

With MBO Partners, freelancers have access to a benefits package — including medical, dental, life, disability, and 401(k) programs — that’s as good as or better than those offered by many Fortune 500 companies. Our benefits are portable, meaning you can go from client to client, project to project, and maintain consistent benefits coverage.

Keep the benefits of working for your self.

A nice perk of freelancing is being able to deduct business expense to reduce tax liability. MBO Partners allows you to maintain the tax advantages of being a freelancer, while still enjoying the benefits of a corporate infrastructure.

The MBO Partners program allows you to submit qualified business and medical expenses quickly and easily. We deduct these expenses from your gross pay before calculating your taxes, then reimburse them with funds from your account. Not only do you get the same tax benefit you would as a 1099 freelancer, you get it with each paycheck—not just at tax time. When tax time does roll around, you’ll have your expenses and income documented and organized so tax preparation will
be as quick and painless as possible.

If your expenses are billable to the client, simply indicate this in the online system and we’ll bill y our clients for you with the next invoice.

Freedom isn’t free. But it shouldn’t cost much either.

You may be thinking, “Sounds great, but what does it cost?” Many freelancers find that the program fee is offset by tax and benefit program savings. The cost is usually just 5% of your gross billings, dropping to 1.5% after you bill a threshold amount, and some studios may opt to cover all or part of the fee. We only get paid when you get paid, and there are no hidden fees or start-up or ongoing program costs. Plus, you’ll be able to focus on your projects – not on your invoices and taxes. We know your time is valuable.