yankee1423[at]yahoo.com (Jeff) wrote:

- quote -

Box 3 is "other income", not just prizes and awards. It
still should've gone in Box 7, but I'm not sure it matters
all that much.

It sounds like he is either employed by his relative (who
should have been withholding and paying payroll taxes for
him) or self-employed (and will need to report that income
and pay self-employment tax).

If he had only $7800 gross income, and he is really not
claimable by his parents (the rule is "could be claimed, not
"is claimed": if his parents could claim him but don't, he's
still stuck with the filing rules for a dependent), he would
probably owe no income tax (his standard deduction plus
personal exemption is $7800, and the adjustment for
self-employment tax alone will get him under the wire).

But there's self-employment tax to deal with. If he had no
business expenses he could document and deduct, that $7800
translates to about $1100 in self-employment tax. Every 7
dollars of business expenses he can report will save him
just about a dollar of self-employment tax.

--
Chris Green

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My roommate received only a 1099-Misc form and no W-2 this
year which was expected. He made less then 7800 on this
form which is located in box 3. He is a part time admin and
his parents are not claiming him. I am pretty sure the
number should've been reported in box 7 but since its in 3
I'll deal with it this year. My first question is since he
is single, not a dependant, and made only 7800, does he need
to file at all? Secondly, the amount he made was cash for
helping out a relative who filed this 1099. Should the 7
box have been filled out instead of the 3 since this was not
an award of any sort?

Thanks for any help

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