Posted on December 27, 2013May 31, 2016 by Jan Roberg

Getting a 1099MISC When You’re Not Self-Employed

If you receive a 1099MISC document in the mail, and there’s a dollar amount listed in box 7 for Non-employee compensation, the IRS treats that as self-employment income and you’re supposed to pay self-employment tax on that income. If you own your own business, that’s perfectly normal. By the way, I’ve got lots of blog posts and tax tips for self-employed folks on this web-site so be sure to check those out. I’ve got a list at the bottom.

But what if you’re not self employed? Really not self-employed. You’re stuck with a document that basically requires you to pay extra tax, what do you do?

First, only dollar amounts in box 7—count as non-employee compensation. If you received dollar amounts in box 1 for rents or box 3 “other income” you don’t have to worry about the extra self-employment tax. The rent goes on your Schedule E for rental income and the other goes on line 21 of your 1040.

But let’s get back to that non-employee compensation again. What did you do to earn that money? Is it in your field of work? If the answer is yes, then it’s going to count as self-employment income even if you don’t think of yourself as being self-employed.

I’m going to use my friend Rick as an example. He works for another tax company and he’s very good at what he does. Every year, Rick gets laid off on April 15th. My company stays open all year round and sometimes I’m super busy in September and October. I could probably use some extra help around then. If I hired Rick to help me with some tax returns, I’d give him a 1099MISC for the money I paid him and he’d have to report that as self employment income. Even though Rick normally works for another company, he’s still in the business of preparing taxes. The money I pay him for tax prep would definitely be considered self-employment income.

But let’s say I hire Rick to paint my office instead. Rick’s not a painter, he doesn’t do that as a business, he’s just helping me out because I need my office painted and I’m helping him out because he needs the money. We’re friends. Painting is not his line of work. So technically, he’s not self-employed and he shouldn’t have to pay self-employment tax on that income. It’s a one shot deal never to happen again. How do you account for that?

Well, it used to be that if you received a 1099MISC for non-employee compensation for under $1000 and you put that amount on line 21 of your 1040—the IRS would let that slide and not audit for self employment tax. But starting with 2013 tax returns, the IRS has announced that they will send notices to anyone with 1099MISC income (with non-employee compensation) on line 21 instead of putting it on a Schedule C—where it will be taxed with self-employment tax.

There’s no box to check or form to fill out with your 1040 to say, “Hey, I’m not self-employed! I shouldn’t have to pay self-employment tax!” So what do you do?

You’ve basically got two options:

One: Claim the income as business income and write off any and all expenses associated with the job. This is going to be the best choice for people who have expenses with a job like mileage or supplies.

Or, two: File your 1040, pay the self employment tax, and then file an amended return 1040X taking the income out of self employment and putting it on line 21 with the explanation that you are not self-employed and the income should not have been subject to self employment tax.

Why do this as an amendment instead of doing it that way the first time? Because the IRS has already announced that they are sending letters out to anyone who puts 1099MISC for non-employee compensation income on line 21. And they charge fines and penalties for underreporting your tax.

By filing and paying the self-employment tax first, then amending, you’re giving the IRS the opportunity to examine the situation and make a determination. You may win, you may lose. But if you win—the case is closed and they won’t come back at you. If you lose—it doesn’t matter. You already paid the tax and they can’t fault you. No harm, no foul.

Most people who receive a 1099MISC for non-employee compensation are going to be considered self-employed by IRS standards. You may as well file the schedule C with your tax return and pay the self-employment tax. If you think you might be an exception give us a call, we can help you sort out your options.

Posted on June 28, 2013May 31, 2016 by Jan Roberg

DOMA Overturned—Now What Do I Do?

Photo by Kellie Parker at Flickr.com

Wednesday, June 26, 2013 the United States Supreme Court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Effective immediately, married gay couples will be able to file their federal income tax returns using the married filing jointly tax status. What does this mean for you?

The first thing to look at is: Does it make sense to amend my back tax returns? You’ll want to review your old returns as far back as 2010 to see if the married filing joint tax status would give you any tax benefit. If so, you will need to amend those tax returns.

For tax years prior to 2010, you would have had to file a protective claim to file jointly, see: http://robergtaxsolutions.com/2012/06/doma-unconstitutional-protecting-your-tax-rights/ Without a protective claim, you cannot file an amended return for years prior to 2010.

On your amended return (form 1040X) you will check the box that says Married Filing Jointly in the section that says “Amended return filing status.” In the explanation box in Part III you will write:

pursuant to US v Windsor, this return is being amended to claim Married Filing Jointly tax status.

US v Windsor is the court case that the Supreme Court heard when they ruled that DOMA was unconstitutional.

You’ll complete the rest of the amended return just as you would any other 1040X form.

You are not required to amend your back tax returns if it does not help you. Because those returns were filed using the law that was in place at the time, you are under no obligation to change your return if it would require you to pay more taxes.

Looking ahead: now that federal law recognizes gay marriage, you may need to do some tax planning given your new status. For many couples, the married filing jointly status is not beneficial. I recommend sitting down with a professional and doing some planning, just that same as any other newly married couple would. Remember, now that the federal government recognizes gay marriage, you are required to claim that you are married on your federal tax return. You will either need to claim the Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately tax status when you file your 2013 federal tax return.

Issues that have yet to be resolved: We know that if you are married in a state that recognizes gay marriage, you may file a federal joint income tax return. What we don’t know yet is what happens to a couple that is legally married in a gay marriage state but moves to a state that doesn’t recognize gay marriage. (For example: a couple gets married in Illinois then moves to Missouri.) I suspect we’ll see some court cases over that in the future. I’ll post updates as I learn more.

If you’d like to read the court case, here’s a link: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-307_g2bh.pdf

Posted on August 14, 2012May 31, 2016 by Jan Roberg

Turbo Tax Users: You Need to do a Three Year Review

Photo by Images_of_Money on Flickr.com

I’ve said it before: I think Turbo Tax is a great product. I also like 1040.com, the do it yourself software you can get on my website. Good products, good results. But, they’re not perfect—none of them are. And neither are tax preparers, after all they are human and make mistakes as well.

It’s August, generally quiet time in the tax business—but no, not this week. The other day my phone rang nine times—people getting IRS letters. “Hello, I got an IRS letter, what do I do?” I suspect that the IRS must have done a mass mailing the other day for my phone to ring so much. (My phone is usually slow in August.)

Some calls are easy and I can guide someone over the phone, “Oh, just send them a copy of XYZ form, that’s all they want.” Usually though, people need to come in and have me take a look. What I’m often finding this summer—is that people are getting IRS letters saying folks owe money, but when I review their returns, they should be getting a refund instead. And while I think that’s great fun (because I’m a tax geek and that’s the kind of stuff I live for) most people don’t like getting IRS letters saying they owe thousands of dollars at all. (Although they’re usually happy when I show they’ve got a refund coming.)

But here’s the catch—these people wouldn’t know they had money coming back if the IRS didn’t send them the nasty letter in the first place! What about all the people who left money on the table but won’t get an IRS notice?

What I’m finding is that the people with money coming back did their own taxes with Turbo Tax. Not that the Turbo Tax program made a mistake but it is usually just a misunderstanding of what should or should not be listed or possibly a typo. That’s why I’m recommending a three year tax review.

Why three years? If you made a mistake on your tax return, you have three years from the date of filing to file an amendment to get your money back. This is achieved by filing a Form 1040X.

For example, let’s say back on your 2009 tax return, you typed in that you paid $1,000 in mortgage interest when really you paid $10,000. The two numbers look pretty similar but there’s $9,000 worth of deduction there that you just missed out on. If you’re in the 25% tax bracket, that’s a $2,250 refund that you’d be entitled to. Your 2009 tax return was due on April 15, 2010. So, three years from that date is April 15, 2013. If you wanted to get that money back from the IRS, you’d need to file an amended return by then.

You don’t need to do this every year, just bring in three years worth of returns once every three years. Most places charge a fee, but it’s generally much lower than the cost of preparing your returns. (I know one large tax company used to advertise that they’d do it for free.)

If your returns are fine—then you’ve got peace of mind. If you’ve been doing something wrong—well then you’ve learned something. If you get money back—well then you know you did the right thing. It’s a winning situation all the way around.

Posted on June 15, 2012May 31, 2016 by Jan Roberg

DOMA Unconstitutional? Protecting Your Tax Rights

Gay pride 225 - Marche des fiertés Toulouse 2011.jpg

Photo by Guillaume Paumier on Flickr.com

The First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (known as DOMA) is unconstitutional. This issue certainly isn’t settled and is going to go to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court may or may not agree, but one thing I know is that it’s going to take some time. That’s why, if DOMA affects your taxes, you might need to act now.

If you are a gay married couple, you haven’t been allowed to file a joint federal tax return because of DOMA. If DOMA is overturned—then you can. And, if DOMA is overturned—you can go back and amend old tax returns as far as three years. You can amend a tax return from 2009 up until April 15, 2013. After that, any refund you might qualify for is lost.

Here’s the catch—the Supreme Court might not hear the case for at least another year so you’d lose out on some of your refund money just because of timing. But there’s a way to protect your interests now so that if the Supreme Court rules your way, you won’t lose out because of the timeline.

Sorry, but I’m going to get really tax geeky here. If this applies to you, you might want a tax professional’s help. Bottom line—if you would have benefitted tax wise from filing your return as “married filing jointly” then stick with me, it’s important.

You want to file amended tax returns for the tax years you were married with a “protective claim for refund”. Basically, a protective claim for refund means that your right to the refund is contingent on future events. In this case, you won’t have the right to claim your tax refund until the Supreme Court issues a decision on DOMA. For your 2009 tax return, your right to claim that refund could expire before the Supreme Court makes its decision.

Basically, a protective claim is going to preserve your right to claim your refund even if the tax deadline has expired. So if the Supreme Court makes its ruling after April 15, 2013–if you’ve filed a protective claim then you still have a right to your refund even though the statute of limitations for that refund has expired.

When you file your 1040x, you’re going to want to say in the explanation box that you are filing a “Protective claim for refund, contingent upon the US Supreme Court decision on the First Circuit Court of Appeals case regarding the Defense of Marriage Act, Gill v OPM.”

Generally, the IRS won’t do anything on your protective claim until the contingency is resolved—in this case, when the Supreme Court actually makes its ruling.

You will mail your 1040X with the protective claim for refund to the same address that you mail a normal 1040X. It varies depending upon the state you live in, but it will be in the form instructions.

Definitely use certified mail, return receipt requested when you send your amendment in. That’s your back up that you filed.

There aren’t that many people who will qualify to file these protective claims for refund returns. I’m in Missouri, we don’t recognize gay marriage. Illinois, next door just recognized it last year so there wouldn’t be any 2009 tax returns for gay couples. And for some couples, filing jointly doesn’t really reduce their tax burden anyway so it won’t make a difference. But if this could help you, then you need to know about it.

If you’d like to read the full case Gill v OPM, here’s a link: http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/getopn.pl?OPINION=10-2204P.01A

One of the points it specifically references is federal income tax returns.

Posted on May 3, 2011May 31, 2016 by Jan Roberg

Oops! There’s a Mistake in My Taxes, How Do I Fix It? Amended Returns

When you have a tax “oops” you fix it by filing an Amended Tax Return, form 1040X.

Mistakes happen. You file your return and later get a W2 in the mail for a job you had forgotten about. Maybe your investment firm sent you an amended 1099 because your interest income they reported was wrong. Or maybe you were talking to a friend and learned about a deduction that you should have been claiming for the past three years and you’d like a refund. What do you do?

It’s easy, you need to file an amended return, the form is called a 1040X and you can find it on the IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040x.pdf.

An amended return can’t be filed electronically like a regular return. You must mail it in and it’s going to take about 12 weeks to process. That’s a bummer if you’re expecting a refund, but that’s the way it works. If your regular return had a refund, make sure you wait until you’ve received the first refund before you file the amended return. (If they start processing the amended return before your original refund gets paid, it can mess up you getting the original refund. You don’t want that to happen now do you?)

If you have more than one tax return that needs to be amended, you must file separate returns for each year and mail them in separate envelopes. For example, say you found out that you had missed a $1000 deduction on your Schedule A every year and you’re in the 25% tax bracket. You can’t just put $3000 on this year’s return for a $750 refund. You’ll have to amend 2010, 2009, and 2008 separately and you’ll receive three checks for $250 each. It’s too late now to claim a refund that should have gone on 2007.

When you amend your tax return, you’ll have to send in the schedules of anything that changed. In the example above, the thing that changed was on the schedule A, so that form would also have to be attached. Don’t attach any forms that didn’t change. Warning: for many folks, a change in one part of your tax return can cause a change somewhere else-most notably on your schedule A. Before you actually mail anything in, go over it carefully to see if you have any unexpected changes.

When you file a 1040X, make sure you check the box for the tax year that you’re amending. That’s a pretty common mistake. The IRS can’t process the return if they don’t know what year it’s for.

When not to file an amended return: You don’t need to file an amended return for a basic math mistake. The IRS will automatically fix that for you. You also don’t need to file an amended return if your original was missing a schedule. That’s where you get a letter from the IRS saying that you claimed something on your return but that you’re missing the supporting documents. A common example of that would be a capital gain of $2000 on your return, but there’s no schedule D to back it up. You don’t need to amend the return, just mail them the schedule D. The IRS will ask you for whatever schedule they’re looking for, you won’t have to guess at what’s missing.

I’ve talked a lot about filing an amended return because of a refund. Sometimes when you file an amended return you’re going to owe. If you have a balance due, mail the payment check with your 1040X. The IRS will probably send you a bill for interest and maybe even penalties depending upon how much you owed. Be prepared for that.

Often times, people are thinking about filing amended returns because they received an IRS letter. Sometimes, you don’t need to amend, just pay the tax. Sometimes, you really need to amend because you shouldn’t have to pay the tax but you need to submit more information. Sometimes, you don’t need to amend and you don’t need to pay the tax—the IRS made a mistake and they just need to have it pointed out to them. Before you start writing that check, get a professional opinion–you want to pay your fair share, not more than you owe.