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How to file as a contractor

To report your self employment income you will fill out schedule C in your personal 1040 tax return and pay SE self employment Tax.  You can enter Self Employment Income into Online Deluxe or Premier but if you have any expenses you will have to upgrade to the Self Employed version.  How to enter self employment income

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/self-employed/help/how-do-i-report-income-from-self-employment/00/...

 

For the future, you should use a program like Quicken or QuickBooks to track your income and expenses.  There is a QuickBooks Self Employment bundle you can check out which includes one Turbo Tax Online Self Employed  return....

http://quickbooks.intuit.com/self-employed

 

You need to report all your income even if you don't get a 1099Misc. You use your own records.  You are considered self employed and have to fill out a schedule C for business income.   You use your own name, address and ssn or business name and EIN if you have one.   You should say you use the Cash Accounting Method and all income is At Risk.   

 

After it asks if you received any 1099Misc it will ask if you had any income not reported on a 1099Misc. You should be keeping your own records.  Just go through the interview and answer the questions.   Then you will enter your expenses.

 

FOR 2019

Here's a blank schedule C to see how it works

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf

 

For 2019 Schedule C Net Profit or Loss goes to 1040 Schedule 1 line 3.  Then the total on schedule 1 line 9 goes to 1040 line 7a.

 

Self Employment tax (Scheduled SE) is automatically generated if a person has $400 or more of net profit from self-employment.  You pay 15.3% SE tax on 92.35% of your Net Profit greater than $400.  The 15.3% self employed SE Tax is to pay both the employer part and employee part of Social Security and Medicare.  So you get social security credit for it when you retire.  

 

The SE tax is already included in your tax due or reduced your refund.  It is on the 1040 Schedule 2 line 4 which goes to 1040 line 15.  The SE tax is in addition to your regular income tax on the net profit.  You do get to take off the 50% ER portion of the SE tax as an adjustment on 1040 Schedule 1 line 14 which flows to 1040 line 8a.  Turbo Tax automatically calculates the SE Tax and Adjustment.

 

Here is some IRS reading material……

 

IRS information on Self Employment

http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Self-Employed-Individuals-Tax-Center

 

Pulication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p334.pdf

 

Publication 535 Business Expenses

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p535.pdf

View solution in original post

2 Replies
Carl
Level 15

How to file as a contractor

As far as the IRS is concerned, the only difference between so sole proprietorship, single member LLC, and Independent contractor is the spelling. Literally! All are considered to be self employed and "in business" for themselves. Therefor, all business income/expenses is reported on SCH C as a physical part of your personal 1040 tax return.

If using the online version of TurboTax 2019 you will *HAVE* to use the self-employed version.

If using the CD/Desktop version of TurboTax 2019 you can use Deluxe or higher.

How to file as a contractor

To report your self employment income you will fill out schedule C in your personal 1040 tax return and pay SE self employment Tax.  You can enter Self Employment Income into Online Deluxe or Premier but if you have any expenses you will have to upgrade to the Self Employed version.  How to enter self employment income

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/self-employed/help/how-do-i-report-income-from-self-employment/00/...

 

For the future, you should use a program like Quicken or QuickBooks to track your income and expenses.  There is a QuickBooks Self Employment bundle you can check out which includes one Turbo Tax Online Self Employed  return....

http://quickbooks.intuit.com/self-employed

 

You need to report all your income even if you don't get a 1099Misc. You use your own records.  You are considered self employed and have to fill out a schedule C for business income.   You use your own name, address and ssn or business name and EIN if you have one.   You should say you use the Cash Accounting Method and all income is At Risk.   

 

After it asks if you received any 1099Misc it will ask if you had any income not reported on a 1099Misc. You should be keeping your own records.  Just go through the interview and answer the questions.   Then you will enter your expenses.

 

FOR 2019

Here's a blank schedule C to see how it works

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf

 

For 2019 Schedule C Net Profit or Loss goes to 1040 Schedule 1 line 3.  Then the total on schedule 1 line 9 goes to 1040 line 7a.

 

Self Employment tax (Scheduled SE) is automatically generated if a person has $400 or more of net profit from self-employment.  You pay 15.3% SE tax on 92.35% of your Net Profit greater than $400.  The 15.3% self employed SE Tax is to pay both the employer part and employee part of Social Security and Medicare.  So you get social security credit for it when you retire.  

 

The SE tax is already included in your tax due or reduced your refund.  It is on the 1040 Schedule 2 line 4 which goes to 1040 line 15.  The SE tax is in addition to your regular income tax on the net profit.  You do get to take off the 50% ER portion of the SE tax as an adjustment on 1040 Schedule 1 line 14 which flows to 1040 line 8a.  Turbo Tax automatically calculates the SE Tax and Adjustment.

 

Here is some IRS reading material……

 

IRS information on Self Employment

http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Self-Employed-Individuals-Tax-Center

 

Pulication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p334.pdf

 

Publication 535 Business Expenses

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p535.pdf

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