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Question

Self-employment tax

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
December 29, 2024
1 reply
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A note to american citizens, regardless of where you live,
this happened to me so I want to let you know of your tax obligation.
The IRS considers the sale of stock photos as a form of self-employment.
If you earn a total of more than $400 from all stock agencies annualy you are required

to pay a 15.3% Self-Employment (SE) tax in addition to your income tax on any self-employment earnings .

Adobe, Shutterstock and other US based agencies send the IRS a copy of your 1099.

More about SE tax can be found here:

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/self-employment-tax-social-security-and-medicare-taxes

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Community Expert

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Unless you are earning enough to consider stock sales as a "living wage", it's hobby income. Read more about it here:

https://www.irs.gov/site-index-search?search=Hobby+income+&field_pup_historical_1=1&field_pup_historical=1

Jill C., Forum Volunteer

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@Jill_C I read this through.

You may be right. I will argue this point through with the IRS to see if they accept it.

The only reason they may not, is because of the amount of uploaded assets. They may consider that, trying to make a profit.
Thanks for the tip.

Community Expert

Community Expert

Here are some other considerations:

https://www.kiplinger.com/taxes/taxes/hobby-income-what-it-is-how-its-taxed#:~:text=Is%20hobby%20income%20taxable%3F,can%20avoid%20self%2Demployment%20taxes.

Jill C., Forum Volunteer