I only made a total income of $4504 in 2017. All of that $4504 was earned being self-employed. I am filing using a 1099-MISC. My standard deduction is $6350. If I understand it correctly, a standard deduction is supposed to be the amount of "tax-free income" that you can claim. So why is it that even though I made less that my standard deduction, I still have to pay anything? The standard deduction should apply to all of my income should it not?
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This would be true if your $4,504 of income was W-2 income and not self-employed income. On a W-2, your employer would pay for 1/2 of your social security taxes owed.
Since you are your own employer, you have to pay your 1/2 of self-employment taxes (SE) on your self-employed earnings of $400 or more. The tax is figured on schedule SE and you do get to deduct part of it (TurboTax calculates it for you).
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900698-what-is-the-self-employment-tax
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901205-where-do-i-find-schedule-se
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