On Apr 7, 11:00 am, Drew27410 <bl...[at]triad.rr.com> wrote:

- quote -

This sounds right to me. The instructions for Line 21 say to include
here "Income from an activity not engaged in for profit. See Pub.
535.". Pub 535 is not very helpful, but the following link is:

http://law.justia.com/us/cfr/title26....1.0.2.71.html

Deductions are allowed, but except for personal deductions (home
mortgage interest, property taxes) they can be no more than your
profit. Furthermore the deductions are taken on Schedule A, subject
to the 2% of AGI limit -- only deductions above 2% of your AGI are
deductible. The good news is that you put all the misc expenses --
including those for your job here, tax preparation fees, fees you pay
people to manage your money to generate taxable income, un-reimbursed
employee expenses, certain attorney fees, etc -- add them up, and then
apply the 2% rule. And remember, the deduction is not allowed under
AMT.

- quote -

Yes, but see the limits above.

Your honesty is good. I imagine most people would have considered
this amount as a gift from friends and not reported anything.

--
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Another question to the group; and thank you for your help so far.

I'm trying to figure out when money I earn can b placed in other
income, and when I have to consider myself self-employed.

I'm helping out a few friends with their yards, mowing, taking down a
couple of trees.
They have given me a few hundred dollars as payment.
I was thinking it was proper to just put this on line 21 of the 1040
as other income.

On the other hand, is it really necessary to claim this as self
employment income, and pay the appropriate social security taxes on
it? If so, I can then deduct all of my expenses, mileage, etc,
correct?

Again, thanks for your opinions and help.

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >