Please feel free to post any additional details or questions in the comment section. As stated in a comment below, most all IRS references to the newspaper carrier under 18 years have been deleted. I'm keeping the Hal_Al comment to maintain the thread.
Most newspaper carriers are classified as direct sellers. Please see this IRS reference: http://bit.ly/2BRUhqP
If your son a direct seller according to that reference, he will need to report the income on a Schedule C subject to Self-Employment tax.
From SuperUser Hal_Al:
Paperboys, under 18, are exempt from self-employment tax
Use this workaround to get the income into the earned income area without subjecting it to the SE tax.
In TurboTax, enter at:
Wages & Income
-Less common Income
-Misc. Income 1099-A…..
-On the next screen select Income not already reported on W-2
-Check yes to did your receive other wages
-Skip the next two screens (Household wages & Disability pay)
-Check yes to Any Other Income
-On the next screen select Other
-On the next screen type in Minor News Carrier and the 1099-Misc amount
The result is that the income ends up in Line 7 as wages, and thus earned income, but there is no SE tax applied since it doesn't affect SE income.
I suggest you don’t e-file, but mail your return. Include a statement with your return something to the effect that "The tax software used to prepare this return does not allow for a minor news carrier to enter his income as self-employment income without also applying the SE tax. Since he is not subject to the SE tax, he has entered this income into Line 7 of this return.”
