BarbL
Employee Tax Expert

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If you and your spouse are the only owners of the same business, if you file a joint return, and if you both elect to not be treated as a partnership, you are considered a Qualified Joint Venture.  Under the QJV rules, you and your spouse will split the business income and expenses and prepare a Schedule C for each of you.  You can split those items in accordance with each spouse's interest in the business.

 

By filing separate Schedule C forms, you will each pay self employment tax on your portion (as xmasbaby mentioned), which will be credited to your separate SSA account for Social Security purposes.  

See this IRS article for more information.

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