Are You “Self Employed”?

Who is Self-Employed?

Generally, you are self-employed if any of the following apply to you.

• You carry on a trade or business as a sole proprietor or an independent contractor.
• You are a member of a partnership that carries on a trade or business.
• You are otherwise in business for yourself (including a part-time business or a gig worker).

Am I Required to File an Information Return?

If you made or received a payment as a small business or self-employed (individual), you are most likely required to file an information return to the IRS.

What are My Self-Employed Tax Obligations?

As a self-employed individual, generally you are required to file an annual return and pay estimated tax quarterly.

Self-employed individuals generally must pay self-employment (SE) tax as well as income tax. SE tax is a Social Security and Medicare tax primarily for individuals who work for themselves. It is similar to the Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld from the pay of most wage earners. In general, the wording “self-employment tax” only refers to Social Security and Medicare taxes and not any other tax (like income tax).

Before you can determine if you are subject to self-employment tax and income tax, you must figure your net profit or net loss from your business. You do this by subtracting your business expenses from your business income. If your expenses are less than your income, the difference is net profit and becomes part of your income on page 1 of Form 1040 or 1040-SR. If your expenses are more than your income, the difference is a net loss. You usually can deduct your loss from gross income on page 1 of Form 1040 or 1040-SR. But in some situations your loss is limited. See Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business (For Individuals Who Use Schedule C) for more information.

You have to file an income tax return if your net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more. If your net earnings from self-employment were less than $400, you still have to file an income tax return if you meet any other filing requirement listed in the Form 1040 and 1040-SR instructions.

How Do I Make My Quarterly Payments?

Estimated tax is the method used to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes and income tax, because you do not have an employer withholding these taxes for you. Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals, is used to figure these taxes. Form 1040-ES contains a worksheet that is similar to Form 1040 or 1040-SR. You will need your prior year’s annual tax return in order to fill out Form 1040-ES.

Use the worksheet found in Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals to find out if you are required to file quarterly estimated tax.

Form 1040-ES also contains blank vouchers you can use when you mail your estimated tax payments or you may make your payments using the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). If this is your first year being self-employed, you will need to estimate the amount of income you expect to earn for the year. If you estimated your earnings too high, simply complete another Form 1040-ES worksheet to refigure your estimated tax for the next quarter. If you estimated your earnings too low, again complete another Form 1040-ES worksheet to recalculate your estimated taxes for the next quarter.

See the Estimated Taxes page for more information. The Self-Employment Tax page has more information on Social Security and Medicare taxes.

How Do I File My Annual Return?

To file your annual tax return, you will need to use Schedule Cto report your income or loss from a business you operated or a profession you practiced as a sole proprietor.  Schedule C Instructions may be helpful in filling out this form.

In order to report your Social Security and Medicare taxes, you must file Schedule SE (Form 1040 or 1040-SR ), Self-Employment Tax. Use the income or loss calculated on Schedule C to calculate the amount of Social Security and Medicare taxes you should have paid during the year. The Instructions for Schedule SE may be helpful in filing out the form.

(*More information is on this IRS webpage: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/self-employed-individuals-tax-center.)

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