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tballolu
Community Member

US Tax Filing

hi there, 

 

I am new to upwork and filing my taxes. Have questions as below, appreciate if you could help:

 

Status - Residing in US and doing freelancer work via upwork.I have filled my W9 form a while ago. 

Reporting taxes - I am reading that i will not receieve a W2. With that said, i believe i have report my earnings. 

(1) Should i be reporting the amount a billed to the client or the amount i recieve. 

For e.g. i make $1000 and $100 is upwork fee, which gives me $900. Should i be reporting $1000 or $900. I assume its the later. 

(2) Reporting earnings on my tax filing - I assume i will have to report my earnings as self employed. If not, please advise as what category should i be filing. 

 

Thanks,

Thabitha

5 REPLIES 5
prestonhunter
Community Member

Tabitha, there is no "one correct way" to file taxes. Upwork is not going to tell you how to file your taxes. Upwork will refer you to your local tax authorities and experts.

 

Also: Each of the questions you posed could be answered by someone here in the Forum. But their answer would simply be an opinion. A different answer could be valid. And any answer would be given by someone does know the details of your circumstances.

Thanks Preston. 

Is it true that Upwork will not provide 1099 ? Found below from upwork. Appreciate your advise. 

 

Form 1099-MISC 

Freelancers—including those who earned more than $600—will not receive a Form 1099-MISC from Upwork. Your clients are not required to send you a 1099-Misc, either.

We recommend that all freelancers use your Earnings by Client report to accurately document your earnings.

Most freelancers won't receive any tax forms from their contracts on Upwork. 

Thabitha - 

 

The last I looked at it, Upwork only cuts a 1099 in limited circumstances - you have to pass a certain threshold in earnings and in the number of transactions.

 

In terms of which numbers to plug into your taxes and where: what I do, and what most people I've seen answer similar questions on here do, is to put the total of the payments from the client in the income field and treat Upwork's fees as a business expense. Both go on the tax form, with the expenses lowering your net income. Unless you've done something to change your tax structure (like forming an LLC and filing an election for S or C corp treatment), then you'll use the self-employment forms.

 

But, if you're unsure, talk to a tax person, which I am not.

Thanks Wes. Appreciate your insight. 

I use Turbo Tax for self--employed and small businesses.  (The purchase is a business expense, too).  It's very helpful in figuring your business expenses to deduct and includes a lot of things I normally would not have thought of.   Everyone's case is a bit different and certainly a good tax advisor is golden but can be expensive.

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