Are event videographers tips tax deductible in 2026?
Yes — event videographers are on the IRS tipped occupation list (code 504). Tips in this job are deductible for 2026, up to $25,000, if the customer chose the amount and could have declined.
Treasury Tipped Occupation Code 504 · Personal services · official title: Private Event Videographers
How tipping works in this job
Videographers work the same rooms as photographers and are tipped the same way: cash on the day, usually from the couple’s family, usually at the end of the reception. Because the deliverable arrives months later, tipping happens on the shoot day rather than on delivery. Crews split what comes in.
The regulations say: Operate video or film camera to record images or scenes of private events. Examples given: Wedding videographer.
The thing most likely to disqualify your tips
Post-production is where the money is and none of it is tipping. Extra edits, a same-day highlight reel, drone coverage, an additional shooter — all of those are priced add-ons the client bought. Only cash handed over on top of the contract qualifies.
Check your own numbers
Pre-filled for event videographers. Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
Step 1 — your occupation
Checking for Event videographers (Treasury code 504). This occupation is on the list.
Step 2 — is it actually a tip?
Answer for the money you are asking about. If some of your income is tips and some is service charges, run them separately.
Step 3 — your tips and income
The phase-out runs on modified AGI, which for most people is the same as AGI.
3 questions left to answer.
OBBBA Deductions · obbbadeductions.com
Tips deduction worksheet — tax year 2026
The three tests, as answered
- Does the customer decide the amount? not answered
- Can the customer decline to pay it? not answered
- Is it a mandatory service charge or auto-gratuity? not answered
Answer the 3 remaining questions above for a result.
Watch out for this in your job: Post-production is where the money is and none of it is tipping. Extra edits, a same-day highlight reel, drone coverage, an additional shooter — all of those are priced add-ons the client bought. Only cash handed over on top of the contract qualifies.
Educational estimate only, not tax advice. It runs entirely in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere. The deduction is scheduled to expire after tax year 2028.
How this applies to event videographers
Videographers work the same rooms as photographers, on the same days, for the same clients, and are tipped on the same schedule — cash at the end of the reception, usually from a parent, usually in a card. The timing is worth pausing on, because a wedding film is delivered six months later and yet the gratuity arrives on the night. Nobody tips on delivery. Whatever the finished film turns out to be, the money that qualifies changed hands while the band was still packing up.
Crews are common on this side of the aisle, more so than in photography — a lead operator, a second camera, sometimes an audio person and a drone operator. Cash handed over is generally one amount for the team, split afterwards. Only your share is your qualifying tip, and where you are the lead distributing it, the portions you pass on are the crew’s figures rather than yours.
The revenue tail in video is longer and more valuable than in stills, and none of it is tipping. Extended edits, a same-day highlight reel shown at the reception, additional camera angles, licensed music upgrades, raw footage delivery, drone coverage and documentary-length cuts are all priced additions. Same-day edits in particular generate enormous goodwill and are sometimes talked about as though the client were rewarding you; they were invoiced.
Travel and accommodation reimbursements are neither tips nor income in the ordinary sense, but they should not be swept into a tip figure either. If a destination wedding client covers a flight and two nights, that is expense reimbursement against costs you incurred, and the deduction has nothing to do with it. The envelope at the end of the night is still the only part that qualifies.
The three tests, whatever your job
Paid voluntarily
The customer sets the amount and can decline to pay it.
Paid in cash or a cash equivalent
Card payments and mobile payments count.
Received directly or through a tip pool
Both routes qualify.
Questions
- Are event videographers on the IRS tipped occupation list?
- Yes. Private Event Videographers is Treasury Tipped Occupation Code 504, in the personal services category. The regulations describe it as: Operate video or film camera to record images or scenes of private events.
- What is the most common reason event videographers lose the deduction?
- Post-production is where the money is and none of it is tipping. Extra edits, a same-day highlight reel, drone coverage, an additional shooter — all of those are priced add-ons the client bought. Only cash handed over on top of the contract qualifies.
- How much of my tips can I deduct?
- Up to $25,000 per return, whatever your filing status. The cap applies first, then the amount is reduced by $100 for every $1,000 of modified adjusted gross income above the threshold for your filing status.
- Does a mandatory service charge count as a tip?
- No. A mandatory service charge or automatic gratuity is not a qualifying tip, and the final regulations confirmed this explicitly. It does not qualify even when the customer cannot decline it — a qualifying tip has to be an amount the customer chose to give.
Related occupations in personal services
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Tutors
You teach individual students or small groups outside their formal schooling, in person or online.
Occupation data transcribed from T.D. 10044 — final regulations on occupations that customarily and regularly received tips, Treas. Reg. § 1.224-1(h) table 1, last verified 2026-09-08. Read the regulations.