is my tax amount correct? Need a reality check

[cthurk]

I'm working on taxes for son.   He only received 1 1099-MIsc for 712.   Turbo tax is telling me he owes 101 - is that possible?   Thought it would be lower, as though he'd be taxed at 10%.   He has 1 small deduction for 70 for uniforms.  Help?

[PaulaM]

If his 1099-MISC income is reported in box 7, then he is paying self-employment taxes on net income. If that is his only income, you might want to revisit your entries. The amount calculated seems a little high.

[LindaA]

Yes, it is possible. Because your son made more than $400 from self-employment, he's required to file a tax return to pay the self-employment tax (Social Security and Medicare taxes). The self-employment tax rate of 15.3% is applied to 92.35% of your son's income.  If his income was $712 and he deducted $70 for uniforms, he'd have a net self-employment income of  $642 and his self-employment tax would be about $91 (92.35% of $642 = $593, and 15.3% of $593 = $91).

Note: The $101 you calculated was for a net self-employment income of $712, which would be correct if he didn't have any deductible expenses.