Has anyone else started roughing out your self employment taxes?

Net income gets ugly if there are a bunch of low value shops.
I feel a New Years resolution coming.

Create an Account or Log In

Membership is free. Simply choose your username, type in your email address, and choose a password. You immediately get full access to the forum.

More About Mystery Shopping Taxes

For the quarter or for the year? I send in payments throughout the year. I'll send in another one in January, then file an extension so I don't have to file until October next year. This way I can work on all of that stuff for my other business during the summer when that slows down. I don't have as much mystery shopping stuff this year since I have only done a few shops since March. I probably only have a few 1099s generated this year. I won't miss having 15 1099s to deal with. Ugh.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/2024 11:01PM by ServiceAward.

I file and pay tax annually (calendar year).

Nope, not yet. I'll deal with it in the new year.

I hired a CPA to do my taxes, and I already have a spreadsheet logging all my earnings, reimbursement and miles that got update bi-weekly. I kind of really just need to print them out and toss them at my CPA and let them figure it out....

I keep a spreadsheet all year long for any deductions, mileage, income, etc. I keep it up monthly. I also pay quarterly taxes. I can't be going crazy with this stuff. The first year was hard trying to figure out what was what but a tax person gave me a nice spreadsheet and I just use that.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/2024 07:32PM by Datagirl.

I keep track of everything as I go and then turn in my information into the CPA. He figures out what I owe and I pay the bill.

I keep a spreadsheet of shops/reimbursements, and a spreadsheet for mileage throughout the year. I have a full-time job, and a regular part-time job, so just have some extra taken out at the full-time job so I don't have to worry about quarterly taxes. It's a little bit of a guessing game, but, I'll probably end up around the same as last year for net income, so, I should be okay and not owe anything (or owe less than 10% of my total tax liability). I also got a bonus at my full-time job and they taxed the bejeezus out of that.

I prepare my own taxes and usually do it last minute. But I'm going to plan on doing the recordkeeping earlier! And also do some additional non-tax recordkeeping.

I always file an extension because some documents I need are from entities that always file extended returns. I ballpark figures to arrive at an extension payment. If it takes too much time, and I'm certain it's more than last year, then I pay the amount from last year.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2024 06:08PM by Okie.

Yes, I have started. I had a few financial changes in the last few years that have left me needing to learn much more. I ended up building a spreadsheet that has the calculations for a 1040 to help me do some of the preplanning. Most of my headache has to deal with not earning too much to fall off the ACA subsidy cliff (I know, it's not technically a cliff any more).

It's a pain but it helps me to think about finances more globally and to think about interest and capital gains, etc. It's far from my favorite thing but planning makes me feel like I'll be less likely to have a major screw up in April.

Olympia T: That is why I plan. You might be able to put some money in a self employed 401k to stay under a threshold.

@jgardn02 wrote:

Olympia T: That is why I plan. You might be able to put some money in a self employed 401k to stay under a threshold.

Thank you. Yes, I use a Roth 401k and a traditional IRA so that I can sock away as much as possible. It's a good way to plan out if it makes sense to have some losses on the books too to minimize taxes.

Earning money is just one side of the coin, the other is keeping it.

@Datagirl wrote:

I keep a spreadsheet all year long for any deductions, mileage, income, etc. I keep it up monthly. I also pay quarterly taxes. I can't be going crazy with this stuff. The first year was hard trying to figure out what was what but a tax person gave me a nice spreadsheet and I just use that.

I do the same.

Yea been thinking about this for a while. I've surprisingly made more than I expected with various MSPs that require me to get a 1099 form. My issue tho is alot of these payouts include reimbursement which isn't differentiate in the pay. So I have to take the time out to separate all that

All I have done is enter my handwritten spreadsheet into my excel spreadsheet. After Jan 1 I can start to gather stuff together. I have been using Turbo tax since my old tax guy retired. Hard to find anyone reasonable in this big city if your tax form is not the short one so I do my own with the help of Turbo tax now.

The real question is...do you know your tax bracket and effective tax rate?

I'm gonna guess most people here, like in the general population, don't.

@maverick1 wrote:

The real question is...do you know your tax bracket and effective tax rate?

I'm gonna guess most people here, like in the general population, don't.

Why is that the real question for SE tax?

joedor101: I can't imagine that your 1099s will include non taxable reimbursements. If they do, I would sure deduct those amounts with your other expenses.

Maverick1: I always know how much additional income I can earn or withdraw from IRAs/401k's and not go to a higher tax bracket.

@jgardn02 wrote:

joedor101: I can't imagine that your 1099s will include non taxable reimbursements. If they do, I would sure deduct those amounts with your other expenses.

Maverick1: I always know how much additional income I can earn or withdraw from IRAs/401k's and not go to a higher tax bracket.

Ah, not afraid of "Auntie IRMAA" I see.

Don't report if did less than $600 per company.

@joedor101 wrote:

Yea been thinking about this for a while. I've surprisingly made more than I expected with various MSPs that require me to get a 1099 form. My issue tho is alot of these payouts include reimbursement which isn't differentiate in the pay. So I have to take the time out to separate all that

My experience has been that the majority of the MSC's don't report the reimbursements, however, those of us who have done projects for RQA, they do report it all on one form, and we have to back it out on the schedule C.

@hksh1 wrote:

Don't report if did less than $600 per company.

Wrong, wrong, just wrong. All income must be reported no matter how much you made with a company. Anyone following your advice is playing with fire.

Lady Marius
Canadian Mystery Shopper

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login

Has anyone else started roughing out your self employment taxes?

Create an Account or Log In

Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies

Mystery Shopper Magazine