Self employed

Hi KathleenH,

You don't need an LLC to start a business, but, for many businesses the benefits of an LLC far outweigh the cost and hassle of setting one up.

https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/do-i-need-an-llc-to-start-a-business

Self-employment offers many freedoms and opportunities. But you may be surprised to discover that your tax bill will be much higher when you work for yourself. Self-employed people must pay self-employment taxes, which can come as a shock to your budget. You may be able to reduce the amount of tax you pay by setting up a limited liability company (LLC) or a corporation.

https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/reduce-self-employment-taxes-with-a-corporation-or-llc

How Do You Report Income from Different Side Gigs? 

If you have one or more side jobs, filing your taxes isn’t much different unless your jobs and sources of income are very different from each other. If they are very different, then you may need to attach multiple Schedule Cs to your tax return. 

For jobs that are in the same or similar line of business can typically be reported on one Schedule C. But don’t be too concerned about selecting the right number of Schedule Cs, TurboTax has you covered and will help you to properly report your income. 

For example, if you sell cake toppers on Etsy and also drive for a ridesharing company, you will have to report the income and expenses for those businesses on two separate Schedule Cs. However, if you sell cake toppers on Etsy and also have a business of making and selling cakes you could combine those businesses on one schedule C as these businesses overlap and can be in the same field of cakes and cake decorating. 

https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/self-employed/how-to-report-self-employment-income-when-you-have-mu...

Hope that helps,

Ron G