You can try. You can argue sporadic activity, but you may still hear from the IRS.
"Someone who as a sideline writes only a single book and is not obligated to revise it in the future or write more books is probably not engaged in the trade or business of being an author and is therefore not self-employed (including several U.S. presidents and first ladies who nonetheless paid SE tax on income from sales of their first books).
In other instances, however, activities that might seem sporadic, in the sense that they are engaged in according to no particular schedule, have been held to be self-employment, based primarily on the number of times they recurred during a tax year. In Revenue Ruling 77-356, a member of Congress received payment for giving speeches, for which there was no pattern to the number of speeches given, the amount of time they required, or remuneration received. During the year in question, the taxpayer made 10 speeches, for which $1,500 was received. Their frequency indicated “a degree of recurrence, continuity, and availability for speech-making,” and thus were considered self-employment. On the other hand, a taxpayer who was paid for an “occasional” speech and did not seek such engagements or indicate availability for them was not self-employed (Revenue Ruling 55-431)."
IRS and sporadic activity
To report other income:
Other income
- Federal Taxes
- Wages & Income
- I'll choose what I work on
- Less Common Income select Start
- Miscellaneous Income
- Other reportable income and you can enter your own description(s) and amount(s).
