High school student worked part time coaching tennis at a club and was issued 199-NEC

[OCDW]

My high school kid, a tennis player, was issued a 1099-NEC for her part time job coaching junior tennis at a tennis club. It was $5600 for 2023.

1) Is she required to file and pay the SS and Medicare taxes as self-employed on schedule C? Or treat this income differently, like hobby income?

2) What kind of expenses can she deduct to help offset this income if she's required to file as SE? Can she deduct tennis equipment/gear (racquets, strings, balls, clothing), tennis lessons paid to her coach in order to improve her skills and do her job well, and vehicle expenses since she drove herself from home/school to the tennis club or take the standard mileage method? 

[MinhT1]

You can still claim your daughter as your dependent if she is under 19 (or under 24, and a full-time student) and she didn't provide more than half of her own support.

She has to file her own tax return as she has self-employed income over $400. She has to indicate on your tax return that she can be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer.

The following advice is for your daughter.

Income reported in box 1 of form 1099-NEC is self-employed income. You are considered as self-employed and in IRS terms, are operating a business doing what you do to earn the income reported on the form 1099-NEC. You enter your form 1099-NEC in TurboTax and TurboTax will populate a Schedule C after you enter all your information. You can deduct any expenses you paid related to this activity (such as supplies, car expenses, etc.)

Deductible expenses can be tennis equipment and clothing necessary for your work, lessons taken to maintain or improve your skills, vehicle expenses or mileage. Note that commuting mileage can't be claimed.

Self-employed income is subject to income tax AND self-employment tax (calculated at 15.3% on 92.35% of net self-employed income).

You don't own a business in the common meaning of the word. So in TurboTax answer that you use the cash method, that you don't have an EIN. You use your own name as the business name and your personal address as the business address. You can use 999999 as your business code.

You’ll need to use TurboTax Deluxe (or TurboTax Online Premium if you have expenses to deduct), or any version of TurboTax CD/Download.

You can read this TurboTax article for more information.

[OCDW]

Thanks! Not what I wanted to hear but expected. What do you mean by commuting mileage? I understand she would not be able to deduct the mileage from home to school or other personal miles but she would be able to deduct the mileage driven to work (either from home or school)? 

Also, if her net taxable income is under $400 after deducting all of these expenses, is she still required to file and pay SE taxes?

[TomD8]

Commuting expenses are the cost of getting to and from the taxpayer's home to his or her place of work and are never deductible.

Assuming her only income is from self-employment, a tax return is required if her net earnings are $400 or more.

[OCDW]

So in her case, what constitutes deductible mileage? Or can she deduct the vehicle expenses (gas/insurance) for the car that she uses for work? 

[DianeW777]

It depends.  If she does not own a car (must be in her name) then she will have no expenses unless she has actual receipts for the times she used the car for her part time coaching. She could take such things as a whistle, timer or other device she uses strictly for coaching (no personal use).

@ocdwolfe 

[OCDW]

The car is not in her name but she was the sole driver of the vehicle. Would her receipts for gasoline deductible?

[DianeW777]

Yes, and any expenses she actually paid for coaching only.  She would not be allowed the standard mileage rate since she doesn't own the car and she doesn't lease the car in her name.

@ocdwolfe 

[TomD8]

"So in her case, what constitutes deductible mileage?"

She can only deduct work-related vehicle expenses.  For example, if she coached at two different locations, she could deduct the expenses of traveling back and forth between them.  She cannot deduct vehicle expenses related to going back and forth from home or school to work.