deductions are not applied towards my self-employment income

[r-wa313413]

I am self-employed who lives with her son. he did not report me as a dependent. I made $7300 total during the year from housekeeping and financial support from my son.

When I try to report that on TurboTax, I get taxed ~$1k on that little income I made. Even though I get deductions of ~16k, I still somehow need to pay that tax.

Am I doing something wrong? Why do I have to pay taxes if my income is so low? Is there a correct way to file my tax such that I don't hav eto pay for such low income?

[Vanessa A]

Deductions that are not business related do not lower your SE Taxes.  Your SE tax which is 15.3% of your income is your Medicare and Social Security tax that you pay as an independent contractor or sole proprietor is not able to be reduced by credits as these payments go to SSA and Medicare instead of in the lump sum pot with the rest of your taxes.  If you were an employee, then your SS and Medicare taxes would be half of the 15.3% because your employer would be paying the other half, but since you don't have an employer to pay the other half, you have to pay the entire amount.  

This means, if you earned $7,300 you would have SE taxes of $1,116.   Again, this is not affected by any deductions you have that do not lower your gross earnings.  If you would deduct mileage, cleaning supplies, marketing, or other business related expenses, that would reduce your earnings and reduce your SE Taxes.  But your standard deduction does not affect your SE tax, only your ordinary income taxes.  So it does not sound as though you are doing anything wrong. 

Self Employment Taxes

The Self Employment Tax