Fair Market Wages for hiring family members in your business

Lydia PatelSep 16, 20260m 45s120 viewsScore 85
Pricing & Profitability
intermediate
Tax Strategy
Hiring
Photography
Profitability
Amenities
M

Summary

AI-generated

Lydia Patel discusses how STR hosts can legally hire family members (like children) to work in their business as a tax strategy. She emphasizes using them for lifestyle photography to showcase family-friendly amenities and explains that all pay must be at 'fair market wages'—what you would pay a stranger for the same work—to remain tax-deductible.

Key insights

  • Paying family members is a valid business expense if they perform legitimate work, such as modeling for listing photos to showcase a 'family-friendly' brand.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Do not overpay family members (e.g., paying $15,000 for a handful of photos) just to shift income; the IRS will flag this as an invalid deduction.

Tools & resources

  • Lifestyle Photographyservice

    A strategy for creating high-converting listing photos by showing families interacting with the space.

Curated by Learn STR by GoStudioM · Summary & key insights generated by AI · Reviewed by editorial