1099 Expense Tracking: A Guide for US Freelancers
If you’re a freelancer in the United States receiving 1099 income, 1099 expense tracking is not optional – it’s the difference between paying thousands more in taxes than you need to and keeping more of what you earn. Unlike W-2 employees, no one withholds taxes for you. No one organizes your deductions. It’s all on you, and the IRS expects detailed records to back up every claim you make.
Read MoreSelf-Employment Tax Explained: The 15.3% Nobody Warns You About
Somewhere around your first year of 1099 income, you’ll hit a number on your tax return that W-2 employees never see: self-employment tax. It’s not a penalty and it’s not a mistake – it’s the cost of not having an employer, and it catches new freelancers off guard almost every time because nothing about a regular paycheck prepares you for it. Here’s exactly how the 15.3% is calculated, why it’s not quite 15.3% of what you think, and what it looks like on real numbers.
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