I have a paper route, my husband has disability, and that's our income. That's it. I make about 1500 a year on my paper route, but the paper doesn't issue a 1099 unless you make over 5000. I have never filed taxes as an adult with children, because my husbands money is nontaxable, but I decided to do it this year.
I couldn't find a good place to put my income, so I put it on "income not reported on a W2." So, federally we are getting a certain amount back now, for that.
So, I e-filed my taxes and was satisfied until I started doing some research (probably should've done first!)
I should've reported the income as "business income" and gone through the whole self-employment mess, which still gives us a refund, although only about half of what I am getting back with the original claim, because this time they took taxes OUT of that money (as though I owed.)
My stressor is, do I let it go? File an amend? Am I going to get audited? Etc? I am so stressed out I feel like I want to throw up, and it's been going on for days. I did not mean to make such a huge mistake, and I do not want to get in trouble or get money I am not entitled to! Plus, I used Turbo Tax online and it supposedly checked for errors and found none.
What would you do?
I'm definitely not an expert on this, but did you file to get an earned income credit--people with low incomes usually get quite a bit from the earned income credit. I think it's pretty easy to file an amendment via the Internet if necessary.
Try to relax, you're fine. Go back to turbo tax online and file an amended return. Just redo it, put your income in business income (self employment tax stinks!) not reported on a 1099. Don't forget to deduct your mileage (they give you $0.50 per mile this year), after deducting your mileage you'll probably end up with the same refund as your original return.
All this means is that you won't get your refund as quickly, no big deal really! Happens all the time, they won't bother auditing your $1500 income.
we always have our local accountant do our taxes. theres no way im ever going to care enough to know enough about taxes to be successful at it. it would be worth the money for you to bring them in and at least have them counsel you on how to do it. they can do just about anything, so i would trust them to help you out.
btw; we ALWAYS get money back, and we pay the accountant out of what we get back, so its no big deal. im constantly amazed at how easy, quick and fabulous it is to not ever have to worry about it.
anyway . good luck.
I agree with calling the IRS so you will know exactly what to do. I amended my brother in law's tax return on turbo tax a couple years ago and it was really easy. People make mistakes on taxes all the time, so don't fret too much. That's what amended returns are for!
I would recommend calling the IRS and explaining your situation and asking for their advice.
Please don't stress. Easier said than done. I'm sure it's just a matter of filing an amended return.
Definitely call and have someone walk you through it. For 2010, you didn't have to pay taxes until you made like $8k, so you should be OK. Although, they are legally supposed to issue a 1099 after you make $600. I don't think you will owe anything, even self-employment taxes at only $1,500.
i would get my taxes redone by a proffessional..there are places that do it free for ppl who make under 30 grand a yr.call this number ###-###-#### this place does it for free here in st paul-but maybe they can direct you to someone in your area.
i didnt file for 25 yrs-i got audited last yr.what a freakin nitemare-luckily they only went back to 2002-but it still costed me 6 grand in pay back-500.00 to just get the mess cleaned up.and i dont make a whole lot of money.good luck
i would call the IRS 800# and explain what you (think) you did wrong and see what advice they give you.
I work through a company that does send me a W2 and I also work with private clients as a career coach, so that is called "self-employed" or "business" income.
I'm not a tax expert, but I have done my own taxes for years. Turbo Tax didn't find errors because you didn't make an error. Either way of reporting is just fine. The main thing is that you reported your income. The paper should be issuing a 1099 for anyone that they pay over $600. They didn't, so you reported it as "not reported on a W2". You also COULD report as "self-employed" as others have said, but then you would want to deduct expenses like mileage, if you drive on your paper route. If you know the mileage that you drive on your route every day, you can deduct that from your "self-employed" or business income, and that will reduce your income.
The IRS has better things to do than to audit those of us who make a little bit of money! I make about $2000/year in my business. Relax!
Just call the IRS.
People make mistakes all the time and that's a huge difference from trying to commit fraud. They understand that.
You don't have to claim 1099 income under a certain amount and you don't even have to file for incomes under a certain amount. I know that one year, I was on disability and I didn't get a refund, but I didn't owe anything either. It was a wash. I was fine with that.
If you are really worried, I would just call them and tell them that maybe you made a mistake. It's better you let them know that up front than you getting a letter in the mail from them later having to try to correct it. That's just my opinion. They deal with people making mistakes all the time. Like I said, an honest mistake is far different than trying to be fraudulent. Just be honest with them about it and ask them what to do.
You can only get back what you are legally entitled to.
My ex husband claimed our son when he had no right to do so and they were so helpful to me. They even tried to help me find a way to get earned income credit, but there was no way around the fact I made about $38 too much to qualify with no write off to off-set it.
If I had just taken one day off and made that much less, it would have made a huge difference. Oh well.
My point is that maybe I'm just lucky, but I've had really good experiences with just going straight to the IRS for help with my tax questions.
Best wishes.
It will be OK. I'm not a tax professional so I can't give any filing advice but you seem to be really on the ball and you have a lot of time to make any corrections if you need to do that. April 15th is a long way away to make any adjustments you choose to make. Take a deep breath and continue to do your research. Call the IRS as many times as you need to to ask questions. The IRS wont give you any advice either, but they will explain the rules and forms for you. If you file an amended form and send it in before 4/15 I don't think you get penalized for sending in the first one with mistakes. It sounds like although your taxes are slightly complicated, you probably don't have enough income to make paying someone to do them worthwhile. Relax and do whatever you think is the right thing in the end. Good luck. You will be fine.
Relax. The IRS consists of human beings, most of whom are polite and helpful. They don't want to cause trauma to people who are trying to do the right thing. (I am not an IRS agent; I'm saying this because I've had some experiences as a taxpayer in these situations.) Just call them up and explain what happened and ask them if you did it right. You can easily get it fixed before April 15, and even if it went past that you could still file an amendment.
I do the taxes for my company and we are required to file 1099's for anyone we pay over $600. As far as I know, that is a law.
You may not be required to file taxes if you earn under a certain amount (I don't know what that is, but I'm sure it can easily be found) but it is usually to your advantage to file. If you don't file, you don't get a refund either.
I would demand a 1099, unless you have paperwork somewhere that you signed stating you are not an employee but a sub-contractor. If that is the case, then you would have to file a schedule C and report it as business income, pay self employment tax, etc. In that case, you also should have tracked all your mileage and other expenses of doing this paper route so you can deduct them from your paid income.
