An example
For a 44-year-old actor who works through a loan-out S corporation, the 2026 figures work out like this:
- Cash balance plan, first year
- $138,000
- Solo 401(k) alongside
- $37,000
- Both plans
- $175,000
- A Solo 401(k) on its own
- $72,000
- Federal income tax saved
- $54,800
Federal income tax only, compared with making no retirement contributions. State tax saved depends on where you live: see savings by state. An illustration from the same calculation as the estimate, not a quote.
Actors and performers are generally a specified service business for the 20% qualified business income deduction. Above the income threshold that deduction phases out, and a contribution that brings taxable income back down can restore part of it. How the deduction interacts with contributions
Loan-out corporations
A loan-out is a corporation you own that contracts your services to productions, labels or venues. The production pays the loan-out, and the loan-out pays you a salary. A loan-out may be an S corporation or a C corporation. Either way, the plan counts only the W-2 salary the loan-out pays you. Profit left in the corporation, or paid out as distributions, does not count.
That puts the salary decision at the center. The benefit the plan can fund is capped at 100% of your average pay over your highest three consecutive years, so a low salary caps the plan however well the loan-out did. See S corporation owners.
Two timing points follow. Salary for the year has to run through the loan-out's payroll by December 31, so a booking paid in late December needs attention before year end, not after. And work paid to you directly on a W-2 by a production, rather than through the loan-out, is that production's payroll and does not count toward the loan-out's plan. The same goes for residuals: those paid to the loan-out are its revenue, while those paid to you directly as wages are not. The full calendar is in cash balance plan deadlines.
Union plans are separate
Performers' unions have pension and health plans funded by producers under the union agreements. Those are separate plans, run by their own trustees, and your own cash balance plan does not replace them.
If you also make salary deferrals to a union 401(k)-type plan, the deferral limit ($24,500 in 2026, plus catch-up from age 50) is per person and shared with any deferrals to a Solo 401(k). Mention any union plan you participate in when your own plan is designed.
Irregular bookings
Work for performers comes in runs: a series, a tour, a year of little. A cash balance plan asks for a minimum contribution every year and is meant to be permanent. For a loan-out, a steady salary through thinner years is what keeps the plan working, since the salary is both what the plan is based on and what the loan-out has to have the cash to pay. See minimum contributions and lean years.
A personal assistant on your payroll or the loan-out's is an employee, and a one-person plan stops fitting once they meet the plan's age and service conditions. Agents, managers and publicists paid a commission or fee are independent businesses, not your employees. See hiring your first employee.
Performing arts and the QBI deduction
Performing arts is on the specified service list; the regulations name actors, singers, musicians, entertainers and directors. Endorsement fees, fees for licensing your name or likeness, and appearance fees fall under a separate specified service category for income from reputation or skill. Above $276,750 of taxable income for a single filer ($553,500 married), a performer's business gets no QBI deduction, and a contribution that brings income back into the phase-in range can restore part of it. See the QBI deduction and retirement contributions.