Taxpayer asks:
Good Morning:
My wife was working for a local music school teaching lesson for only a couple of months last year. She was paid a total of $120.00 for 2007. The Music store has not sent us a 1099-MISC form. How do I declare this income on my 1040 form? Do I still have to fill out a schedule C and SE Form to declare this income or can I just insert this amount of money as misc. income?
Thanks for you help.
Taxgirl says:
The music school was not required to issue a form 1099-MISC because the aggregate amount paid out was less than $600.
You don’t need to report this on a Schedule C – you can just report it as other income (line 21 on your form 1040).
Before you go: be sure to read my disclaimer. Remember, I’m a lawyer and we love disclaimers.
If you have a question, here’s how to Ask The Taxgirl.
In the real world do tax payers report this as income?
Why wouldn’t you?
The tax on this amount is minimal and from an auditor’s perspective, it would be easy to prove that the taxpayer was employed.
Additionally, if there are expenses associated with the job, you can’t take them if you don’t report the income.
But more importantly – especially to folks like musicians, artists and writers – income is important when seeking loans, etc. As someone who owns her own business, I can tell you that my ability to get a mortgage or car loan is heavily dependent on my AGI.
Also, don’t forget that there are some credits – like the dependent care credit – that you lose if you can’t show corresponding income.
How about if you have a few hundred bucks in miscellaneous income, you got no 1099, and you have expenses that are ‘way more than you earned? I’m a pro bowler (meaning that I pay a lot of money to enter bowling tournaments, and occasionally win some of it back!), and made… hmmm — looking back at it, I guess I did make slightly more than $600, which I guess would mean a Schedule C.
Suppose my income from bowling were under $600, and expenses were around $1800 — what would I do about that?