Just to add another perspective - I've been doing multiple side hustles for about 3 years now and learned this the hard way my first year. You absolutely need to report ALL income, even if it's just $20 from a random odd job. The $600 thing that confuses everyone is just about when companies are required to send you tax forms, not when you're required to report. What really helped me was setting up a simple spreadsheet at the beginning of each year with columns for date, source, amount, and any expenses. I update it weekly so I don't forget anything. Even for cash jobs where there's no paper trail, I still log it. The IRS expects you to track and report everything, and honestly it's not worth the risk of an audit over unreported income. For your eBay sales of personal items, as long as you're selling them for less than you paid originally, that's not taxable income since there's no profit. But your delivery driving, streaming tips, and creator earnings all need to be reported regardless of the amounts.

This is exactly the kind of confusion that trips up so many gig workers! I went through the same thing when I started doing multiple side hustles. The key thing to remember is that the $600 threshold is NOT about when YOU need to report income - it's about when companies are required to send YOU tax forms. You need to report ALL income from every source, no matter how small. So yes, your delivery driving, streaming tips, and content creator earnings all need to be reported, even if some are under $600 individually. For your eBay/Marketplace sales, if you're just selling personal items for less than you originally paid for them, those aren't taxable since there's no profit involved. But if you're flipping items or made any profit, then those sales count as income too. My advice: start keeping a simple log of all your income sources now. Even a basic spreadsheet with date, source, and amount will save you so much headache come tax time. And don't forget you can deduct legitimate business expenses like mileage for delivery driving, equipment for content creation, etc. Good luck!

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm dealing with a similar situation but with an additional wrinkle - we have some employees who are independent contractors working across multiple states. From what I understand, the withholding rules are different for 1099 workers, but I'm struggling to find clear guidance on whether we need to track their work locations for state tax purposes or if that responsibility falls entirely on them. Also, for companies that have implemented tax equalization programs - how do you handle the situation where an employee's effective tax rate actually goes DOWN when they work in certain states? Do you claw back the equalization payment, or do you just let them benefit from the favorable assignment? I'm particularly interested in hearing from anyone who has experience with employees working temporarily in states with no income tax (like Nevada or Wyoming) while being residents of high-tax states.

This is such a timely discussion! We've been grappling with similar challenges at our company. One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is the coordination with workers' compensation insurance - we discovered that our WC carrier also needed to know which states our employees were working in, and there were some conflicts between how we were tracking for tax purposes versus WC purposes. Also, for anyone dealing with the New York convenience rule - be extra careful! NY considers remote work done for a NY employer to be NY-source income even if the employee is physically in another state. We had to implement special tracking just for our NY-based employees who travel elsewhere to make sure we're withholding correctly. Has anyone dealt with city-level taxes in this context? Places like NYC, Philadelphia, and San Francisco have their own income taxes on top of state taxes. We have a few employees who occasionally work in these cities and I'm not sure if we need to be withholding city taxes for short-term assignments.

Another thing to consider - if you're talking to banks for business loans specifically (not personal loans), they actually might want to see different numbers. When I applied for a small business loan, they wanted to see my business's total revenue (the total income line) AND the profit (ordinary business income). They used the revenue to gauge business size and the profit to assess profitability. Just something to keep in mind depending on what you're using these numbers for!

I just want to point out something that confused me at first - there's also the "gross receipts" line on the 1120-S which is different from both total income and ordinary business income. Gross receipts is literally ALL money coming in before ANY deductions, total income is after some adjustments, and ordinary business income is after most expenses. The IRS publication 542 explains this, but honestly it's super confusing to read. My accountant explained it like this: gross receipts = all money in, total income = money after cost of goods sold and a few other things, ordinary business income = your actual profit after regular business expenses.

One thing nobody's mentioned - if you're giving this money specifically for education, you could pay his student loans directly or contribute to a 529 plan. Payments made directly to educational institutions for tuition bypass gift tax rules entirely!

Just wanted to add another perspective on timing - if you're concerned about the paperwork but still want to give the full amount now, remember that Form 709 isn't due until April 15th of the year following the gift (so April 2026 for a 2025 gift). This gives you plenty of time to get familiar with the form and maybe consult with a tax professional if needed. Also, don't let the gift tax form intimidate you - it's actually pretty straightforward for a simple cash gift like yours. The IRS instructions are clearer than most other tax forms, and there are good examples included. You're doing a wonderful thing helping balance things out between your kids!

My accountant told me that the proper treatment depends on your relationship with the partnership. Are you a general partner? Limited partner? Just an employee who gets a K1 for some reason? The rules are different for each situation. If you're a limited partner, royalties are almost always reported in Box 11 and not subject to SE tax. But general partners often have different treatment. Maybe show your employer this article I found helpful: https://www.thetaxadviser.com/issues/2017/jun/determining-self-employment-income-partners-partnerships.html

This is a common issue I've seen with K-1 reporting, and you're absolutely right to question it. The key is understanding the nature of your royalty payments and your role in the partnership. From what you've described, if these are truly passive royalties from intellectual property you created in the past but are no longer actively developing, they should NOT be subject to self-employment tax. The proper reporting would typically be Box 11 with code F for royalties, not as guaranteed payments in Box 4a or self-employment earnings in Box 14A. However, I'd recommend getting a definitive answer by reviewing your partnership agreement and the specific terms of your royalty arrangement. The classification can depend on whether you're considered to be receiving these payments for past services, current services, or simply as a return on capital (your intellectual property). You might want to request a meeting with your employer's accounting department and bring documentation showing the nature of your royalty agreement. If they're unwilling to correct it, consider getting a second opinion from a tax professional who specializes in partnership taxation, as the SE tax implications can be significant over time.