Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Then you are self-employed, at least because of the side job.  You owe self-employment tax on the net profit plus income tax.

If your employer pays you on a W-2 and also gives you a 1099-MISC for a bonus or something, that is incorrect.  All your wages should be on a W-2 and by giving you a 1099-MISC, the employer is trying to dodge his share of social security tax.  In turbotax, after entering the 1099-MISC, look for a checkbox on the next page for special circumstances "this money should have been on my W-2."

If your primary employer only gives you 1099-MISC forms, then they are treating you like an independent contractor.  This may or may not be correct.  You can dispute it if you want, the IRS will investigate.  https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-self-employed-o...

To file a tax return as an independent contractor, you need a schedule C that will compute your net profit after expenses and your self-employment tax.  If you do not have any expenses to deduct, you can use the Deluxe or Premier version, it will report the schedule C income but can't deduct expenses.  To deduct expenses, you need the Self-employment version.

The side job is definitely self-employment income and requires a schedule C, even if the 1099s from your main job were improper and should have been on a W-2.  Again, you can make a schedule C with income in the Deluxe version but need Self Employment version to deduct expenses.

Depending on the kind of work you do, you can have one schedule C or two different ones, if the kinds of work you do are different.

View solution in original post