Reporting Income from Unusual Job Situations

midwest_46 · Joined: 14 Feb 2008 Posts: 2

Hi. I have some questions about how to report the income that I
received from two jobs that I had in 2007. I live in Illinois, but my
questions pertain to federal taxes.

1) For one job, I worked as a model in a photo shoot. This was a one-
day job, and I earned $50. At the job, I filled out a W-9 federal tax
form. When I got paid, I received the $50 in full. No money was
withheld for any taxes.

So, was I a 1099 contractor or a W-2 employee? Should I fill out
federal tax form 4137 and pay Medicare and Social Security taxes on
the $50? I have not received any tax form from this employer.

2) For the other job, I was supposed to work as an actor in a movie.
The employer (in this case, the director) emailed me a contract. This
contract stipulated that I would be working as an independent
contractor, for one day, for $100. The contract actually used the
phrase "independent contractor", which I understood to mean a 1099
contractor.

I was supposed to print out the contract, sign the contract, and bring
the contract with me to the movie set on the day of filming. Then, the
director himself would sign the contract, and the contract would be in
effect. I would then work on the movie on that day, and I would be
paid.

Well, what actually happened was as follows: I printed out the
contract, signed the contract, and took the contract to the set. When
I got to the set, I saw other actors there, but the director was not
there. After we waited for an hour, we received a phone call from the
director. The director said that the filming of our scene would be
postponed indefinitely. However, the director did give me a $50 check
just for showing up.

So, in summary, the director was not there to sign the contract, the
contract never went into effect, and I did not do any work. However,
the director did give me $50. So, is this $50 considered to be a gift?
If yes, then the gift does not have to be reported to the IRS because
the gift did not exceed $12000. Or is the $50 considered to be income
from work? If yes, then is the $50 considered to be 1099 income or W-2
income?

I have not received any tax form from this employer, either. Also,
this employer doesn't even know my Social Security number, and he
hasn't asked me for it. Does the employer need my SS number?

Thank you very much for any information.

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Archived from group: misc>taxes>moderated

Paul Thomas, CPA · Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 3094

wrote
> Hi. I have some questions about how to report the income that I
> received from two jobs that I had in 2007. I live in Illinois, but my
> questions pertain to federal taxes.
>
>
>
> 1) For one job, I worked as a model in a photo shoot. This was a one-
> day job, and I earned $50. At the job, I filled out a W-9 federal tax
> form. When I got paid, I received the $50 in full. No money was
> withheld for any taxes.
>
> So, was I a 1099 contractor or a W-2 employee? Should I fill out
> federal tax form 4137 and pay Medicare and Social Security taxes on
> the $50? I have not received any tax form from this employer.

You're considered an independent contractor. Most models are.

Use Schedule C, generally, but if all you made for the year was $50, use
C-EZ. No SE tax (Social Security / Medicare) is due on that little of an
amount.

>>

> So, in summary, the director was not there to sign the contract, the
> contract never went into effect, and I did not do any work. However,
> the director did give me $50. So, is this $50 considered to be a gift?

Nope. It's compensation to you - for showing up.

> If yes, then the gift does not have to be reported to the IRS because
> the gift did not exceed $12000. Or is the $50 considered to be income
> from work? If yes, then is the $50 considered to be 1099 income or W-2
> income?

It's part of yoru self-employment income from modeling/acting. Lump it
together with the other money on Schedule C or C-EZ.

> I have not received any tax form from this employer, either. Also,
> this employer doesn't even know my Social Security number, and he
> hasn't asked me for it. Does the employer need my SS number?

So, lacking any other income, you made $100 being self-employed in the
modeling/acting business.

You report what you earned. Don't worry about what they didn't report to
the IRS.

--
Paul A. Thomas, CPA
Athens, Georgia

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Bob Sandler · Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 294

>I have not received any tax form from this employer.

>I have not received any tax form from this employer, either. Also,
>this employer doesn't even know my Social Security number, and he
>hasn't asked me for it. Does the employer need my SS number?

They are not required to send you a tax form because they
paid you less than $600 for the year. Therefore, they also
do not need your Social Security number. But you still have
to report the income, as Paul Thomas said.

Bob Sandler

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Doug · Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 19

> It's part of yoru self-employment income from modeling/acting. Lump it
> together with the other money on Schedule C or C-EZ.
>

If it's casual, you can simply put it on line 21 "Other income." If
it's something you're serious about, that you're running in a business-
like fashion, you can deduct expenses on Sch C, perhaps even showing a
loss that you can deduct from your other income.

-Doug

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