How to Lower Your 1099 Tax Bill | FlyFin (2024)

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TIPS FOR FREELANCERS AND THE SELF-EMPLOYED:

How to Lower Your 1099 Tax Bill

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Taxes are no fun when you are a freelancer, a self-employed individual or a 1099 contractor. You have to navigate through heaps of statements and paperwork just to confirm the tax you owe and then make the payment.Although the IRS provides instructions, you won't find an IRS billboard pointing you to ways to reduce, lower or completely eliminate your 1099 tax bill. That’s what FlyFin is for. Here we bring you five ways to lower your 1099 income.

Table of contents

The basics of a 1099 worker...Read more

How to reduce your 1099 taxes...Read more

How to deduct your self-employment tax from your income tax...Read more

Take Qualified Business Income deductions to lower your tax...Read more

How can a Retirement Plan Help You Save on 1099 income?...Read more

How can you avoid paying 1099 taxes?...Read more

The basics of a 1099 worker

Unlike a W-2 worker, self-employed workers need to ensure what they owe, pay their own taxes and file the IRS returns. If you are an independent contractor or self-employed individual, you should usually get a 1099 form from your employer. This employer could be anything from an online application like Postmates, Uber or Lyft, or it could be a company like Apple or Tesla that you freelance for.When it comes to filing taxes, you should always be on the lookout for ways to lower taxes on your 1099 income. A 1099 income could be any income you make outside of your full-time work.If you work as a part-time freelancer, you’ll get a 1099 form from the company that you work with. You may also work as a full-time self-employed individual and get a 1099 form.

How to Lower Your 1099 Tax Bill | FlyFin (1)

How to Lower Your 1099 Tax Bill | FlyFin (2)How to Lower Your 1099 Tax Bill | FlyFin (3)

The IRS has set the threshold for filing 1099 income tax returns at $400. So you’re required to file income tax returns if you earn $400 or more as 1099 income. For example, if you earn $30,000 from your full-time employer and $400 from your freelance activities, you’ll have to file a tax return on your 1099 income and pay the taxes on the $400 separately. Unlike W-2 employees, who only have to pay taxes once their income exceeds the $12,000 threshold of the standard deduction, 1099 contractors have to report their income starting from $400.As a 1099 contractor, you pay more taxes than a full-time employee because you pay the full 15.3% in FICA taxes, which employers normally split with employees.A W-2 employee has half of this 15.3% share contributed by the employer. As a self-employed individual, you don’t have this privilege. So you need to smarten up technologically for your taxes, and A.I.-enabled platforms like FlyFin have a massive role in saving you big on taxes.

How to reduce your 1099 taxes

Starting by minimizing your tax bill, always keep track of all your business expenses for deductions. You can write-off all qualifying business expenses from your tax bill. For example, if you are a freelance delivery driver you can keep track of:

  • Your business mileage
  • Keep you fuel bills from trips
  • Toll payments
  • Parking slips
  • Vehicle maintenance expenses
  • Delivery vehicle depreciation costs
  • Vehicle insurance expenses

You can check FlyFin delivery driver page to find more details on how you can lower your 1099 taxes, and be sure to utitlize a 1099 tax caculator.

How to deduct your self-employment tax from your income tax

You can deduct a massive chunk off your self-employment taxes because you’re also an employer. When the IRS requires you to pay 15.3% in FICA taxes, you can declare half of that amount as a write-off from your self-employment tax amount. It’s similar to a company paying its share of 7.65% as FICA tax and then declaring this as a business expense in the IRS return. The IRS also has a provision to include this by default in your Schedule SE. If you accidentally miss including it, the IRS will send you a refund after informing you of the mistake.

Take Qualified Business Income deductions to lower your tax

QBI is the pass-through income you make as a self-employed individual. The QBI deduction is available for eligible individuals like freelancers, 1099 contractors and business owners.You can lower your taxable income by as much as 20% using QBI, but you can’t lower your self-employment tax. To lower your self-employment tax, you need to use business write-offs, as mentioned above.To find the business write-offs, you can connect FlyFin to your bank statement and find all deductions automatically.

How can a Retirement Plan Help You Save on 1099 income?

The IRS likes when you save for retirement and has some deductions that help you lower your tax bill. You can avail any one of the following three options in this infographic:

How to Lower Your 1099 Tax Bill | FlyFin (4)

How to Lower Your 1099 Tax Bill | FlyFin (5)How to Lower Your 1099 Tax Bill | FlyFin (6)

Although you’ll pay taxes if you ever wish to use your retirement plan, it's a good way to save money that could take care of you in the future.

How can you avoid paying 1099 taxes?

All you have to do is stop being taxed as a self-employed person. If your income is high enough, you can create an S Corporation. The progressive U.S. tax system charges you more if you earn more. So if you are earning more than $100,000 every tax year, you better register your company as an S-Corp. This will allow you to set your own reasonable salary and the remaining amount could be the company profits. For instance, if you set the salary at $80,000, the remaining sum can be declared as your company’s profit. Although you’ll have to pay taxes on company profits, it will be less than the sum if you filed as a self-employed individual.

1099 G form

The 1099-G form is used to report payments made by governments to individuals. Unemployment compensation should be reported on Schedule 1 (Form 1040).

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1099 SA form

The 1099-SA form is an informational form that reports distributions from your health plan. This is filed on Form 8889 or Form 8853 and attached to Form 1040.

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Form 1040

This is the most common document in the US tax system. It's the master tax return that every American fills out.

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Form 1040 Schedule C

Running a business by yourself? This is the tax return 2022 schedule where you report how much (knock on wood) profit you made or how much you (heaven forbid) lost over the course of the year.

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Form 1040 Schedule SE

SE stands for self-employment tax, and this is where people who make a living working for themselves or freelancing pay Social Security and Medicare taxes.

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Form 8829

If you use your home for work, you can deduct things like utilities and supplies used for your home office or storage space used for inventory from your taxes. Use this form to figure out how much you can deduct.

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Form 1099

If you're self-employed, this is the form that the people who pay you use to report those payments to the IRS. Here's what you need to know about it.

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Losing a 1099 form

If you've lost a 1099 that was sent to you, fear not. Here's what you can do if it happens.

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Form 1099-NEC

Entities that pay you for services as a freelancer or independent contractor report those payments to the IRS using this 1099 form.

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Form 1099-MISC

Entities that give you other forms of income as a freelancer or independent contractor, such as prize money or money for healthcare, report those payments to the IRS using this 1099 form.

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Form 1099-K

If you receive payments of $600 or more as a self-employed individual through credit card companies and payment services like PayPal, they report those payments to the IRS using this 1099 form.

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Paypal

Here's how to receive a 1099-K from PayPal and how to use it to file and pay your 1099 taxes.

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Shopify

Here's how to receive a 1099-K from Shopify and how to use it to file and pay your 1099 taxes.

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Venmo

Here's how to receive a 1099-K from Venmo and how to use it to file and pay your 1099 taxes.

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Form 1099-MISC VS Form 1099-NEC

Understand what makes these 1099 forms different from each other and what they mean for you as a 1099 freelancer, independent contractor or self-employed individual.

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Form 1040-ES

This vital tax form for self-employed individuals and freelancers is how they pay quarterly taxes, which they need to estimate (ES means estimated taxes).

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1099 A form

The 1099-A form is received when an owned property has been foreclosed. This form is reported on Schedule D after calculating capital gain or loss.

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1099 B form

A 1099-B form is an informational return form for recording the sale of investments by brokerages. This is reported on Form 8949 and Schedule D.

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1099 G form

The 1099-G form is used to report payments made by governments to individuals. Unemployment compensation should be reported on Schedule 1 (Form 1040).

LEARN MORE →

1099 SA form

The 1099-SA form is an informational form that reports distributions from your health plan. This is filed on Form 8889 or Form 8853 and attached to Form 1040.

LEARN MORE →

Form 1040

This is the most common document in the US tax system. It's the master tax return that every American fills out.

LEARN MORE →

Form 1040 Schedule C

Running a business by yourself? This is the tax return 2022 schedule where you report how much (knock on wood) profit you made or how much you (heaven forbid) lost over the course of the year.

LEARN MORE →

What’s FlyFin?

FlyFin caters to the tax needs of freelancers, gig workers, independent contractors and sole proprietors. But anyone can file taxes through FlyFin! It tracks all your business expenses automatically using A.I. to find every possible tax deduction.Then, our CPA team files a guaranteed 100% accurate tax return for you – to save you a couple thousand dollars and a ton of time on your taxes.Download the FlyFin app and have your taxes filed in less than fifteen minutes, saving time and more money on your taxes than last year, guaranteed.

How to Lower Your 1099 Tax Bill | FlyFin (7)How to Lower Your 1099 Tax Bill | FlyFin (8)

Expert tax CPAs ensure 100%-accurate tax filing

How to Lower Your 1099 Tax Bill | FlyFin (9)How to Lower Your 1099 Tax Bill | FlyFin (10)

A.I. finds every tax deduction, eliminating 95% of your work

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On average users save $3,700

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FlyFin is the world’s #1 AI and CPA tax filing service for freelancers, self-employed, business owners, 1099 & W-2 workers. A.I. finds every tax deduction and starts to build your tax returns, saving you hours of tedious work. A dedicated CPA prepares your federal & state tax returns from start to finish and ensures your taxes return with precision. A.I. and CPAs work together to make your tax filing 20x faster and 5x cheaper. Act now and file your IRS tax returns with FlyFin before the last day to file taxes in 2023.

With FlyFin:

A.I. eliminates 95% of your work: A.I. analyzes your expenses, identifying every tax write-off automatically. This helps freelancers and self-employed individuals filing Schedule C with their 1040 forms save $7,800 on average, more than in previous years.

Dedicated CPA file taxes from start to finish : You're assigned an expert CPA to prepare your federal and state tax returns for your review and e-sign. When everything is ready and reviewed, the CPA will efile the income tax federal return, and your taxes are complete for the year.

Pay quarterly taxes: A.I. & CPAs help you accurately calculate your quarterly tax and ensure timely payments to avoid any IRS penalties.

Maximum tax refund guaranteed: 75% of tax filers miss out on taking all deductions. A.I. doesn’t forget anything and keeps track of every deduction 24/7. A dedicated CPA reviews every deduction, calculates your taxes precisely and suggests tax-saving strategies.

Federal & state taxes covered - No hidden costs: Our tax team members are experts in all aspects of US & international taxes. We file federal and state tax returns for all types of entities - Sole proprietors, LLCs, S-Corps, K-1s, W-2s, etc.

Tax preparer near me: Discover the convenience of virtual assistance with FlyFin, eliminating the need to search for a tax preparer. Our A.I. and expert CPAs are just a click away, ready to guide you through your IRS income tax return.

Full audit insurance at no cost: In case of an audit, your CPA handles the IRS. They evaluate your tax situation, prepare responses and communicate with the IRS on your behalf.

100% Money back guarantee: We offer a 100% refund if you are dissatisfied with the service & don't want our CPAs to prepare your federal tax returns.

FlyFin is a more affordable alternative than traditional tax services like TurboTax and H&R Block. FlyFin powers its bank-level security using Mastercard and Plaid, making FlyFin trusted by over 25,000 financial institutions. We protect your name, email address, phone number and more through compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act, the highest data privacy standard in the US.

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How to Lower Your 1099 Tax Bill | FlyFin (2024)

FAQs

How to Lower Your 1099 Tax Bill | FlyFin? ›

There are a number of business deductions you can take as an independent contractor, including health insurance, home office deductions, mileage and deductions for your phone bill.

How to pay less taxes on 1099? ›

How to Avoid Paying Taxes on Your 1099 & Save Money
  1. Set Up an Automatic Savings Plan for Taxes.
  2. Use a 1099 Tax Calculator to Estimate Taxes.
  3. Make Your Money Work for You with Micro-Investing.
  4. Create an Emergency Fund.
  5. Itemize Your Deductions.
  6. Employ a Tax Professional.

How to lower taxes as an independent contractor? ›

There are a number of business deductions you can take as an independent contractor, including health insurance, home office deductions, mileage and deductions for your phone bill.

Why do 1099s pay more taxes? ›

When you work on a 1099 contract basis, the IRS considers you to be self-employed. That means that in addition to income tax, you'll need to pay self-employment tax. As of 2022, the self-employment tax is 15.3% of the first $147,000 in net profits, plus 2.9% of anything earned over that amount.

How do I offset my 1099 income? ›

What are the most used 1099 Deductions?
  1. Business Insurance Premiums. ...
  2. Car Expenses. ...
  3. Cell Phone Costs. ...
  4. Commission and Fees. ...
  5. Depreciation of Assets (Section 179) ...
  6. Health Insurance Premiums. ...
  7. Home Office Deduction. ...
  8. Mileage.

What are the tax loopholes for 1099? ›

1099 independent contractors have several tax deductions available to them that don't require itemization. These include health insurance premiums, job search expenses, and vehicle mileage deductions for business use when traveling between work sites or clients' offices.

How much money should I set aside for taxes if I'm 1099? ›

1099 contractors should set aside 20-35% of their income to pay taxes. However, it's best to consult with an accountant as each case is unique.

Can a 1099 employee write off car payments? ›

It's natural for freelancers who use their cars to expect to claim a car tax write-off on their 1099 tax. But if you bought a car and are making monthly payments, or you're leasing a car, the payments are not actually tax-deductible.

How to manage taxes as a 1099 employee? ›

Answer:
  1. Independent contractors generally report their income on Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss from Business (Sole Proprietorship).
  2. Also file Schedule SE (Form 1040), Self-Employment Tax if your net earnings from self-employment are $400 or more. ...
  3. You may need to make estimated tax payments.

How bad does a 1099 affect my taxes? ›

Q. What percentage do you pay in taxes on a 1099 form? Any 1099 income above $400 is taxed at a 15.3% fixed rate by the IRS. This includes 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare.

Why are independent contractors taxed so high? ›

Do you pay more in taxes as an independent contractor? Independent contractors generally pay both the employer and employee portion of Medicare and Social Security taxes. This is known as self-employment tax. In some cases, they may be able to deduct the employer-equivalent portion of the tax on their annual return.

What percentage is a 1099 taxed at? ›

1099 contractors pay the full 15.3% from the money they earn. They also need to file quarterly estimated tax payments and pay quarterly estimated federal and state taxes.

How do I reduce my taxable income on my 1099? ›

The QBI deduction is available for eligible individuals like freelancers, 1099 contractors and business owners. You can lower your taxable income by as much as 20% using QBI, but you can't lower your self-employment tax. To lower your self-employment tax, you need to use business write-offs, as mentioned above.

Can you write off gas on a 1099? ›

First on the 1099 self-employment tax deductions: Mileage. You have two options when it comes to this 1099 deduction: Your actual car expenses, like the cost of gas, maintenance, insurance, car payments, and depreciation, or. A standard amount for every mile you drive.

How to pay less taxes as an independent contractor? ›

16 amazing tax deductions for independent contractors
  1. Home office.
  2. Educational expenses.
  3. Depreciation of property and equipment.
  4. Car expenses.
  5. Business travel.
  6. Cell phone.
  7. Health insurance.
  8. Business insurance.
Feb 29, 2024

What percentage of taxes do you pay on a 1099? ›

Q. What percentage do you pay in taxes on a 1099 form? Any 1099 income above $400 is taxed at a 15.3% fixed rate by the IRS. This includes 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare.

How do I maximize my tax return with 1099? ›

Expense Deductions: Freelancers and independent contractors can use Form 1099-NEC to their advantage by maximizing expense deductions. Keep detailed records of business-related expenses, such as office supplies, equipment, travel, and meals.

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