External Revenue Service? 31-Year Old Actor Still Relies on Dad to Do Their Taxes

by Jake Alexander.

NEW YORK, NY - 31-year old actor James Montgomery Jr. was surprised to learn that his friends e-filed their own taxes, while drafting a text to his father, James Sr., to please handle his for the thirteenth year in a row. 

“Wait, what? I can’t do that,” said James Jr., an actor/caterer originally from Ohio but now living in Hamilton Heights, as he sat with his friends at Harlem Public. “I always have my dad do mine. He’s a finance guy. He uses a professional service to do it. What am I, a scientist?”

James Jr. went on to explain that he has way too many tax complications to be expected to file on his own. He noted that he had 2 (two) W2s from contracts he booked in last year: a cabaret at The Green Room 42 that paid him $57.00 from the box office, and a whopping $250.00 from the six-week contract at an undisclosed theatre in Arizona that performs outside. 

“On top of that,” he explained to his group of friends hoping for reassurance that you can still rely on your parents well into your thirties, “I cater, and I never know what to check when you fill out that hiring-paperwork-stuff. Do I declare tips? Do I have a dependent? Am I single even though I'm in throuple?” 

James Jr. does not have student loans to declare interest on, and does not have health insurance.

Sarah Beth, James’ roommate and younger by five years, weighed in.

 “James doesn’t seem to understand that it’s super easy,” explained Sarah Beth while noting on her own tax forms that she does not live in Yonkers. “I would do James’ taxes for him if he gave me his return! I could get it done in 10 minutes. As long as he never moves to Yonkers.”

When reached for comment, James Sr. confirmed he does not work in finance, at all, and is in fact a gym teacher. 

Our reporter confirmed that James would, in fact, not be receiving a refund this year. Instead, he would owe about $4,500.