Most
police "details" are subject to both income and self-employment tax.
Police who perform outside duties for a private enterprise are exempt from FICA
and Medicare if the services performed at the private enterprise were required
by City ordinance. [In such a case, the amounts would be reported as
miscellaneous income on page 1 of the tax return.]
A
police officer may be subject to self-employment tax [and would need to report
the income as business income] in other situations. For example, if the police
officer is performing security services and is not an employee of the private
employer, the income would be subject to self-employment tax. The income would
not be wages, as the police officer would not be an employee of the police
department.
See
INFO 2002-0187 from IRS's Office of Chief Counsel at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-wd/02-0187.pdf
