JRS & B
Florida/Michigan
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rk911 - True. But sometimes people don't know the correct answer and they just guess at what they think the answer is.
Many, many years ago, my one teenage son got a temporary jobs shoveling snow at some nearby model homes. They told him not to worry about the IRS because they paid him in cash out of their petty cash box and withheld no tax. Well, we got a lot of snow that winter and he ended up earning $600. So they asked him for his social security number and then reported his $600 to the IRS after all. My 14 year old son was now in the snow removal business and had to prepare a profit and loss statement with his revenues and expenses. In the end he paid no taxes, but the forms were confusing and a lot of work. And we didn't fill them out totally correct the first time so we got a letter back from the IRS. Then filed an amended return. Still no tax owing. But what a hassle.
So I would still refuse to give them my SS# on the grounds I was concerned about identity theft.
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Clay L
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
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We volunteered at Idaho state parks and during the briefing we were told that the value of our site and utilities was not taxable. No 1099s were issued.If you receive cash it would be a different story.
Clay (WA5NMR), Lee (Wife), Katie (cat).
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rk911
Wheaton IL
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someone correct me if i'm mistalen but i believe the threshold for issuing a 1099 is $600. a tax man who i trust once told me that the absence of a 1099 or a W2 does not mean the income shouldn't be declared...just that no corresponding record of that income was furnished to the IRS.
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msmith1199
Central, CA
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rk911 wrote:msmith1199 wrote:The IRS has no interest in your volunteering. However, if you are being given some type of non-monetary compensation to volunteer then that may be considered taxable income. If you are implying there is a value to the parking space, then I doubt that would be considered income since you are only using it as part of your volunteer service.
Now if you are volunteering for a charity or some type of qualified non-profit there may be a tax advantage for you. You may be able to write off expenses you incur while volunteering like milage on your personal car or safety equipment you have to buy.
And as a disclaimer, I'm no CPA or tax expert so don't take my advice here as accurate. I'm just going off things I've heard or learned over the years.
several years ago i spoke with a campground host at one of the Illinois State Parks and this topic came up. he told me that at the end of the year he received a 1099-MISC for the value of his campsite and the $1.00 per day in cash he received as a campground host. don't know if that practice is still in place or not. best to ask whomever you report to at the hatchery but if the public does not pay for parking then i doubt you'd be issued a 1099 for that.
Being provided with a campground space is clearly a benefit to you and is very likely taxable income as to the value of the space. Also I believe whether you get a 1099 or not does not change the taxability of income. It may determine how easy it is for the IRS to catch you, but you have to report income whether it is documented or not. Now having said that, if you are a campground host and getting 1099'd on this stuff, it should be very easy to show off setting expenses. For example if you have to use your own vehicle as part of your campground hosting duties you can write off milage on the vehicle. If you use your RV as an office there may also be deductions there.
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msmith1199
Central, CA
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Jim,Rosemary, Sandy wrote:rk911 - True. But sometimes people don't know the correct answer and they just guess at what they think the answer is.
Many, many years ago, my one teenage son got a temporary jobs shoveling snow at some nearby model homes. They told him not to worry about the IRS because they paid him in cash out of their petty cash box and withheld no tax. Well, we got a lot of snow that winter and he ended up earning $600. So they asked him for his social security number and then reported his $600 to the IRS after all. My 14 year old son was now in the snow removal business and had to prepare a profit and loss statement with his revenues and expenses. In the end he paid no taxes, but the forms were confusing and a lot of work. And we didn't fill them out totally correct the first time so we got a letter back from the IRS. Then filed an amended return. Still no tax owing. But what a hassle.
So I would still refuse to give them my SS# on the grounds I was concerned about identity theft.
Employers give out 1099's like this for two reasons. One is because the law requires them to if they pay more than $600 to a person like this. The other reason is because they have to do the 1099 in order to write off the expense themselves. So if you refuse to provide the SSN in advance then you probably don't get the job. If you don't want to give out the SSN you can get a tax payer id number that should work for this.
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msmith1199
Central, CA
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Clay L wrote:We volunteered at Idaho state parks and during the briefing we were told that the value of our site and utilities was not taxable. No 1099s were issued.If you receive cash it would be a different story.
So State officials were giving out personal income tax advise? Like I said in a previous point, a 1099 does not change the status of whether the income is taxable or not. The 1099 is just an IRS tracking device. The IRS rules are what determines if the income is taxable or not.
For example, lets say an agent of the IRS was reading this forum and they saw what you wrote here about the Idaho State Parks. They could send somebody over to the Idaho State Parks office and audit them and determine if they are improperly advising people about the taxability of this benefit. If they determine they are, then they could obtain the records of the State Parks and go back after all the people who received this benefit and collect back taxes.
Now having said that, I have to add the disclaimer again that I'm no CPA. It's possible that there is an exemption someplace for receiving this benefit from a State government.
* This post was
edited 12/03/11 12:29pm by msmith1199 *
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msmith1199
Central, CA
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rk911 wrote:someone correct me if i'm mistalen but i believe the threshold for issuing a 1099 is $600. a tax man who i trust once told me that the absence of a 1099 or a W2 does not mean the income shouldn't be declared...just that no corresponding record of that income was furnished to the IRS.
You are correct. Income is income and you have to report it as per IRS rules. The reason they have the $600 limit on the 1099 is just to save on paperwork. Removing that limit may add another billion documents to the IRS mail so they put a limit on it to avoid that. And they only want to go after the higher incomes anyway.
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CarlGeo
Central San Joaquin Valley, CA
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You are not in trouble if you get a 1099 MISC, and no deductions are made. ALL you need to do is be SURE and report the 1099 MISC income on your return and all is good!
I have done this for years, and have actually been audited by IRS with no problems.
CarlGeo
Dick_B wrote:1099-MISC's are trouble and make the tax return more complex. It's basically income without deductions for things like Social Security. If you end up with taxable income there may be a penalty for the lack of SSA deductions or withholding.
The `bottom line' is that if you don't get a piece of paper at the end of the year from the Hatchery there is nothing to claim on your tax return.
I'm not a CPA but have done `simple' Income Taxes for AARP for several years.
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JRS & B
Florida/Michigan
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I have gotten a 1099-Misc. for some of my free life insurance coverage every year since I retired 5 years ago. There are no deductions of any kind. I just include the amount in my income and pay the tax on this non-cash fringe benefit.
But if I did not get a 1099-Misc. I would just keep my mouth shut about it. You just confuse the IRS if you report income they don't know about because they then want to know how that income escaped their detection.
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msmith1199
Central, CA
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CarlGeo wrote:You are not in trouble if you get a 1099 MISC, and no deductions are made. ALL you need to do is be SURE and report the 1099 MISC income on your return and all is good!
I have done this for years, and have actually been audited by IRS with no problems.
CarlGeo
Dick_B wrote:1099-MISC's are trouble and make the tax return more complex. It's basically income without deductions for things like Social Security. If you end up with taxable income there may be a penalty for the lack of SSA deductions or withholding.
The `bottom line' is that if you don't get a piece of paper at the end of the year from the Hatchery there is nothing to claim on your tax return.
I'm not a CPA but have done `simple' Income Taxes for AARP for several years.
I think the true answer on this is "it all depends." If you get a 1099 for $600 there is probably no real issue. But if you get a 1099 for $50,000 and you have not been paying quartlerly taxes, then there is a real good chance you'll be paying penalties on failure to do so. Even if you are a W-2 employee and you don't have enough withheld throughout the year you could be subject to penalties when it comes time to pay up. There are various exceptions to this rule, but it is the rule. Not to mention income reported to you on a 1099 is also subject to the self employment tax. That basically means you have to pay both halves of Social Security and both halves of medicare. So you may owe $20k or more on $50k of 1099 income depending on what other income you may have.
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