Should my 17 year old Son who is a Referee be considered "Self-employed/an independent contractor" or a "Freelancer/gig-worker" for tax reporting purposes.

[jdma122174]

He only works seasonal about 4 months a year and received a 1099-K this year.

[JamesG1]

If your son received a 1099-K, he will be presented with these options to report the income.

 

Hobby income would report the income as ‘other income’ and would only be subject to income tax.  No expenses would be allowed to offset the income.  TurboTax Premier or Deluxe Online would be able to file the tax return.

Self-employment income would be reported on Schedule C Profit and Loss from Business and would be subject to income tax as well as self-employment tax.  Ordinary and necessary expenses related to the business would be allowed to be deducted from the income.  TurboTax Online Self-employed would be required to file the tax return.

This IRS website states:

Who is Self-Employed?

Generally, you are self-employed if any of the following apply to you.

• You carry on a trade or business as a sole proprietor or an independent contractor.
• You are a member of a partnership that carries on a trade or business.
• You are otherwise in business for yourself (including a part-time business or a gig worker).

@jdma122174 

[tweetybirdgrl]

Did you get a clear answer on this?  I’m in the same boat with my son and this is clear as mud to me.  

[VolvoGirl]

Yes that is self employment income.  He has to file it on Schedule C and pay self employment tax.  Is he your dependent?  Be sure on his return he checks the box that says he can be claimed on someone else's return..

You can enter Self Employment Income into Online Deluxe or Premier but if you have any expenses you will have to upgrade to the Self Employed version or use any of the Desktop CD/Download programs.

Actually I would just enter your total income as Other self employment income or as Cash or General income.  You don't need to get a 1099NEC or 1099Misc or 1099K.  Even if you did you can enter all your income as Cash.  Only the total goes to schedule C.

How to enter self employment income

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/self-employed/help/how-do-i-report-income-from-self-employment/00/...

Do you want anymore help on reporting self employment income?

Self Employment tax (Scheduled SE) is automatically generated if a person has $400 or more of net profit from self-employment.  You pay 15.3% SE tax on 92.35% of your Net Profit greater than $400.  The 15.3% self employed SE Tax is to pay both the employer part and employee part of Social Security and Medicare.  So you get social security credit for it when you retire.  

The SE tax is already included in your tax due or reduced your refund.  It is on the 1040 Schedule 2 line 4 which goes to 1040 line 23.  The SE tax is in addition to your regular income tax on the net profit.