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Illinois joint filing when one spouse is technically unemployed

klutz891 — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 15:15:52 GMT

My husband and I filed jointly last year for the first time. Both of us had income. However, my husband has been technically unemployed since March. He has made a few hundred $ selling fishing lures he makes from home the rest of the year. If we file jointly does he have to report that income as self employment income no matter how small it is? If we have to pay a self employment tax on his very little income it is almost not worth him selling as what I am reading says to save 35% for taxes.

Re: Illinois joint filing when one spouse is technically unemployed

xmasbaby0 — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 15:23:47 GMT

Yes, your spouse is required to report his self-employment income on your joint return even if it does not seem "worth it" to you. That is the law. If he earned more than $400 by through self-employment he is required to report the income and pay self-employment tax on it for Social Security and Medicare, as well as ordinary income tax.

He can deduct the expenses for his supplies, etc. on a schedule C.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2926899-how-does-my-side-job-affect-my-taxes

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2903027-how-do-i-report-income-from-self-employment

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2902389-why-am-i-paying-self-employment-tax

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3398950-what-self-employed-expenses-can-i-deduct

Re: Illinois joint filing when one spouse is technically unemployed

klutz891 — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 22:28:23 GMT

Just to be clear, I wasn’t saying it doesn’t seem worth it to report the income, I meant it doesn’t seem worth it for him to continue selling online if that is the case. My question was if there is a minimum threshold for having to report that self income. You did answer that question, so thank you for that.