Tax Form & Publication Guide for the Newly Self-Employed
February 25th, 2008If you make money working on your own, such as blogging with Google AdSense, Amazon Associates, etc., you will very likely have received a Form 1099-MISC for miscellaneous income by the beginning of February. And you will need to file and pay self-employment tax.
The first year I had to file self-employment tax, I was completely clueless as to which forms I needed to fill out. I spent hours going through the IRS website looking for any and all forms, instructions and publications that might apply to me. Now, after several awkward starts, starting and running a new business partnership for almost 3 years, and filing my own taxes for the past 4 years, I have become a little more familiar with the system and process, which has made the ordeal somewhat easier (though, unfortunately, not much pleasanter). If you decide to do your own taxes, here is a little guide of some of the basic forms and publications that might be of use to you and save you the hours and hours it took me to figure it out.
The reason I am doing this is that I have often found instructions or publications that apply to me and think will answer all my questions only to find out as I read that I need to refer to even more publications and fill out another form. As everyone’s circumstances may differ, so might the forms and publications you need.
