W9 Forms

Hey I am just about to finish a site that I would need a W9 form for. What is this form for, who do I send it to, what info do you need to put on it, and who gets it? Also do you need to send the form first before you can get your freebie? How much should you expect to get taxed? I would really appreciate any help on this, Thank You )

This form is used by sites so that they can mark the gifts they give out as a tax deductible. You would send it to the site in question, probably through email to the support department.

Here is a link to the form here.

Yes, you will need to send the form first; this is so they don't get scammed. You don't get taxed for sending the form.

Hope this info helps. I think it is complete.

You don't get taxed for sending the form, however it DOES lead to you being forced to declare the value of the prize on next years' income taxes, therefore you do get taxed.

A W9 is a taxpayer identification form that includes your name, address, and taxpayer ID, i.e. your SSN. It is required by IRS regulations to be kept on file, and the freebie site will use it to generate the 1099-MISC that they will file with the IRS and mail to you for reporting on your taxes.

And yes, it's required before receiving your prize.

The tax depends on your income and which tax bracket you fall into. I dont have my code so I dont' know exactly.

I have been trying to find information about the tax brackets and how much you have to pay and to no avail.

I have also heard you can use the money you payed for people to "green" as deductions, is this possible?

[quoteaaf78b55ec="coolvaughan"]I have been trying to find information about the tax brackets and how much you have to pay and to no avail.

I have also heard you can use the money you payed for people to "green" as deductions, is this possible?[/quoteaaf78b55ec]
Everybody's tax situation is different, so nobody can tell you exactly what your tax liability will be. As for the brackets and tax tables themselves, those are easy to come by, but without taking your entire income, deduction, and credit situation into account it's still not possible to give you any more than a guess. If your income is low enough, you may not owe any taxes.

Deducting "green" payments is a gray area that I'm not sure would be worth pursuing. It might fall under the hobby expense deduction, but like the home office deduction, the hobby deduction carries a lot of restrictions and is generally a red flag for audits, so you better document everything very well. If you attempt to deduct it as "business" income, then you just declared yourself as self-employed and would be expected to file your freebie income on Schedule C as SE income, which would cost your MORE in Social Security and Medicare taxes.

[iaaf78b55ec]Standard Disclaimer I am not a tax professional, and it is never recommended to seek or take tax advice from any unqualified source, least of all a freebie forum.[/iaaf78b55ec]

[quote02348844c5="coolvaughan"]I have been trying to find information about the tax brackets and how much you have to pay and to no avail.

I have also heard you can use the money you payed for people to "green" as deductions, is this possible?[/quote02348844c5]

depends on how you do your taxes. I'm taking a tax class now and it's crazy all the excemptions there are and how you can and can't do them. If you file the standard deduction then you can't use the money you pay as a deduction. If you itimize it has to be higher than a certain % of your AGI and it has to be higher than your standard deduction. So you would have had to pay people more than $5,150 for it to be worth it.

And you must also have the recipts if they are requested. If you dont you are gonna have some huge problems. there are a lot of penalties for that.

I have a tax code book with the tax brackets taht I use for my class. It's at school though and I'm home for spring break. but you should be able to get all the info you need from the IRS website. irs.gov

[quote4328d76bee="dmorris68"][quote4328d76bee="coolvaughan"]I have been trying to find information about the tax brackets and how much you have to pay and to no avail.

I have also heard you can use the money you payed for people to "green" as deductions, is this possible?[/quote4328d76bee]
Everybody's tax situation is different, so nobody can tell you exactly what your tax liability will be. As for the brackets and tax tables themselves, those are easy to come by, but without taking your entire income, deduction, and credit situation into account it's still not possible to give you any more than a guess. If your income is low enough, you may not owe any taxes.

Deducting "green" payments is a gray area that I'm not sure would be worth pursuing. It might fall under the hobby expense deduction, but like the home office deduction, the hobby deduction carries a lot of restrictions and is generally a red flag for audits, so you better document everything very well. If you attempt to deduct it as "business" income, then you just declared yourself as self-employed and would be expected to file your freebie income on Schedule C as SE income, which would cost your MORE in Social Security and Medicare taxes.

[i4328d76bee]Standard Disclaimer I am not a tax professional, and it is never recommended to seek or take tax advice from any unqualified source, least of all a freebie forum.[/i4328d76bee][/quote4328d76bee]

It is in a pretty gray area. There are certain rules for taxes as hobby income. You would not have to consider it hobby income and you would have to treat it as a business, which would make a whole other series of different taxes. If it is hobby income, you have to claim any money you get from it but you can't claim deductions. It really is a confusing topic. We are learning about that right now so it's hard for me to really explain this. Maybe i'll understand it better after i get back to school.

I just started a business the last part of last year. When I filed my taxes my income from it was $7000. I then had to pay $500 for Self Employment Tax not including the income tax that I didn't pay on it yet. So be careful if you do it.

And like DMorris said, it's definately a red flag to be audited. I was going to do the home office thing, but it says it can only be used 100% for the business, any even one minute of personal use disqulifies it.

Thanks for all the help )