Looking for tax information

[Bishop]

I am a independent contractor. I have heard that if you make under a certain amount in a year, you don't have to file. Is this true? Only thing i could find was if i made under $400 i wouldn't have to file taxes.

Anyone know where i can find out some info about this? I checked irs.gov but couldn't come up with too much.

[CALIWEST]

you do not have to file taxes if u made less then $5000 a year

[Bishop]

oh really? I couldnt find anything on irs's website. But i thought i learned in class a few years ago that if u make under 3 or 5k you dont have to file. Do you know this from personal experience?

[Jkuao]

Technically you still have to file since you still have to pay FICA on 1099 independent contractor income. You do have a personal exemption of $3,400 so if you made less than 4-5k you're not going to owe anything. If you file in GA, w/ the right combination of credits they pay you a small rebate even if you didn't pay anything.

[CALIWEST]

I know because i talked with a CPA i know and he advised that if you make less the $5K you do not have to file. But due to independent contractor Jkuao is correct.

[JennB]

You need to file if you made over $400 from your services.

You should get 1099's from each place you worked for as long as they paid you $600 or more each.

As for not filing if you made less than $5,000, as long as you had federal income tax withheld from your pay, you should file. Otherwise you are giving the government your money. Example, if you made $3,000 and had just $200 withheld... file! You will get the full $200 back. You don't file, you get nothing.

[Greddypacked]

If you didnt make that much being an independent contractor you wont owe anything. Sometimes i do independent contracting and i have learned this. You can do write offs also on the things you've purchased for that job. For instance courier work, lets say the mechanic work you got done to your car and the gas you spent while working you could use for write offs. Of course you should have the receipts with the time and date on them.

[cpa ric]

The CPA that said you don't have to file if you make under 5k is full of bunk. The IRC indicates that you must pay tax on income. If it is over 400 bucks, you must file. If you do not file, you will get busted. There is income tax on income, and then there is the 15.3 percent for social security and medicare. True, if you only earn 5k, your exemption and your standard deduction will take you down to zero tax liability for income earned, but you still have to pay the 15.3% that covers medicare/SS. Half of the 15.3% is an above the line deduction (it goes on page 1 of the 1040)

Income
- expenses
= net income
-standard deduction (or itemized deductions on schedule A)
-exemptions
=taxable income

[JennB]

I took that post to mean that someone (who didn't know shit) had told him not to file if you made less than $5000 from a regular job with taxes withheld and employer matches to SS and Med. Like I said, that would be stupid because if you made less than $5000, you would get back all of your federal withholdings but if you didn't file, you'd get nothing.

It's always better to just file. It either keeps you safe from getting in a hell of a lot of trouble or gets back money... either way, good idea.

[cpa ric]

Yes, you would get it all back. Now, someone that makes that much can even get the earned income credit. You don't have to have children anymore to get that.

[JennB]

You do have to be 25 if you have no kids though.


Have fun with tax season... I'll be sleeping late on Saturdays and leaving the office at 5:30 every day for the second tax season. Woo hoo! Corporate accounting.