| Publication 334 |
2008 Tax Year |
Publication 334 - Introductory Material
The purpose of this publication is to provide general information about the federal tax laws that apply to small business
owners who are sole proprietors and to statutory employees. This publication has information on business income, expenses
and tax credits that may help you file your income tax return.
Are you self-employed?
You are self-employed if you carry on a trade or business as a sole proprietor or an independent contractor.
Sole proprietor.
A sole proprietor is someone who owns an unincorporated business by himself or herself. However, if you are the sole
member of a domestic limited liability company (LLC), you are not a sole proprietor if you elect to treat the LLC as a corporation.
Trade or business.
A trade or business is generally an activity carried on to make a profit. The facts and circumstances of each case
determine whether or not an activity is a trade or business. You do not need to actually make a profit to be in a trade or
business as long as you have a profit motive. You do need to make ongoing efforts to further the interests of your business.
You do not have to carry on regular full-time business activities to be self-employed. Having a part-time business
in addition to your regular job or business may be self-employment.
Independent contractor.
People such as doctors, dentists, veterinarians, lawyers, accountants, contractors, subcontractors, public stenographers,
or auctioneers who are in an independent trade, business, or profession in which they offer their services to the general
public are generally independent contractors. However, whether they are independent contractors or employees depends on the
facts in each case. The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if the payer has the right to control
or to direct only the result of the work and not how it will be done. The earnings of a person who is working as an independent
contractor are subject to self-employment tax. For more information on determining whether you are an independent contractor
or an employee, see Publication 15-A, Employer's Supplemental Tax Guide.
Statutory employee.
A statutory employee has a checkmark in box 13 of his or her Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement. Statutory employees use Schedule C or C-EZ to report
their wages and expenses.
Limited liability company (LLC).
A limited liability company (LLC) is an entity formed under state law by filing articles of organization. Generally,
a single-member LLC is disregarded as an entity separate from its owner and reports its income and deductions on its owner's
federal income tax return. An owner who is an individual may use Schedule C or C-EZ.
Husband and wife business.
If you and your spouse jointly own and operate an unincorporated business and share in the profits and losses, you
are partners in a partnership, whether or not you have a formal partnership agreement. Do not use Schedule C or C-EZ. Instead,
file Form 1065, U.S. Return of Partnership Income. For more information, see Publication 541, Partnerships.
Exception—Community income. If you and your spouse wholly own an unincorporated business as community property under the community property laws of a
state, foreign country, or U.S. possession, you can treat the business either as a sole proprietorship or a partnership. The
only states with community property laws are Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington,
and Wisconsin. A change in your reporting position will be treated as a conversion of the entity.
Exception—Qualified joint venture. If you and your spouse materially participate as the only members of a jointly owned and operated business, and you file
a joint return for the tax year, you can make a joint election to be taxed as a qualified joint venture instead of a partnership.
To make this election, you must divide all items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit between you and your spouse
in accordance with your respective interests in the venture. Each of you must file a separate Schedule C or C-EZ.
This publication does not cover the topics listed in the following table.
What you need to know.
Table A (shown later) provides a list of questions you need to answer to help you meet your federal tax obligations. After each question
is the location in this publication where you will find the related discussion.
Table A. What You Need To Know About Federal Taxes
|
(Note. The following is a list of questions you may need to answer so you can fill out your federal income tax return. Chapters
are given to help you find the related discussion in this publication.)
|
| What must I know |
|
Where to find the answer |
| |
| What kinds of federal taxes do I have to pay? How do I pay them? |
|
See chapter 1 (page 6).
|
| What forms must I file? |
|
See chapter 1 (page 10).
|
| What must I do if I have employees? |
|
See
Employment Taxes
in chapter 1 (page 9).
|
| Do I have to start my tax year in January? Or can I start it in any other month? |
|
See
Accounting Periods
in chapter 2 (page 12).
|
| What method can I use to account for my income and expenses? |
|
See
Accounting Methods
in chapter 2 (page 12).
|
| What kinds of business income do I have to report on my tax return? |
|
See chapter 5 (page 20).
|
| What kinds of business expenses can I deduct on my tax return? |
|
See
Business Expenses
in chapter 8 (page 31).
|
| What kinds of expenses are not deductible as business expenses? |
|
See
Expenses You Cannot Deduct
in chapter 8 (page 40).
|
| What happens if I have a business loss? Can I deduct it? |
|
See chapter 9 (page 40).
|
| What must I do if I disposed of business property during the year? |
|
See chapter 3 (page 16).
|
| What are my rights as a taxpayer? |
|
See chapter 11 (page 45).
|
| Where do I go if I need help with federal tax matters? |
|
See chapter 12 (page 47).
|
IRS mission.
Provide America's taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and
by applying the tax law with integrity and fairness to all.
Comments and suggestions.
We welcome your comments about this publication and your suggestions for future editions.
You can write to us at the following address:
Internal Revenue Service
Business Forms and Publications Branch
SE:W:CAR:MP:T:B
1111 Constitution Ave. NW, IR-6526
Washington, DC 20224
We respond to many letters by telephone. Therefore, it would be helpful if you would include your daytime phone number,
including the area code, in your correspondence.
You can email us at *taxforms@irs.gov. (The asterisk must be included in the address.) Please put “ Publications Comment” on the subject line. Although we cannot respond individually to each email, we do appreciate your feedback and will consider
your comments as we revise our tax products.
Ordering forms and publications.
Visit www.irs.gov/formspubs to download forms and publications, call 1-800-829-3676, or write to the address below and receive a response within 10 days
after your request is received.
Internal Revenue Service
1201 N. Mitsubishi Motorway
Bloomington, IL 61705-6613
Tax questions.
If you have a tax question, check the information available on www.irs.gov or call 1-800-829-1040. We cannot answer tax questions sent to either of the above addresses.
The following are some of the tax changes for 2008. For information on other changes, go to www.irs.gov, and click on More Forms and Publications. Then, click on What's Hot in forms and publications, or see Publication 553.
Self-employment tax. The maximum net self-employment earnings subject to the social security part of the self-employment tax increases to $102,000
for 2008.
Optional method to figure net earnings. For tax years beginning after 2007, the amount of gross and net income from self-employment you may have when using the nonfarm
optional method or the farm optional method to figure your self-employment tax has increased. This allows electing taxpayers
to secure up to four credits of social security benefits coverage. In future years, the threshold will be increased to maintain
that level of coverage. See chapter 10.
Increased section 179 deduction dollar limit. For tax years beginning in 2008, the maximum section 179 expense deduction is generally increased from $125,000 to $250,000
(higher limits apply to certain property). For more information, see Depreciation in chapter 8.
Standard mileage rate. For 2008, the standard mileage rate for the cost of operating your car, van, pickup, or panel truck for business miles is:
-
50.5 cents per mile for the period January 1 through June 30, and
-
58.5 cents per mile for the period July 1 through December 31.
For more information, see
Car and Truck Expenses
in chapter 8.
Additional tax relief for businesses affected by the Kansas storms and tornadoes. Special rules not covered in this publication may apply. For more information, see Publication 4492-A, Information for Taxpayers
Affected by the May 4, 2007, Kansas Storms and Tornadoes.
Additional tax relief for affected businesses in the Midwestern disaster areas. Special rules not covered in this publication may apply. For more information, see Publication 4492-B, Information for Affected
Taxpayers in the Midwestern Disaster Areas.
Additional tax relief for businesses affected by federally declared disasters. Special rules not covered in this publication may apply. For more information, see Publication 547, Casualties, Disasters,
and Thefts.
The following are some of the tax changes for 2009. For information on other changes, go to www.irs.gov, and click on More Forms and Publications. Then, click on What's Hot in forms and publications, or see Publication 553.
Self-employment tax. The maximum net self-employment earnings subject to the social security part of the self-employment tax increases to $106,800
for 2009.
Standard mileage rate. For 2009, the standard mileage rate for the cost of operating your car, van, pickup, or panel truck for business miles is
55 cents per mile. For more information, see
Car and Truck Expenses
in chapter 8.
Accounting methods. Certain small business taxpayers may be eligible to adopt or change to the cash method of accounting and may not be required
to account for inventories. For more information, see
Inventories
in chapter 2.
Reportable transactions. You must file Form 8886, Reportable Transaction Disclosure Statement, to report certain transactions. You may have to pay
a penalty if you are required to file Form 8886 but do not do so. You may also have to pay interest and penalties on any reportable
transaction understatements. Reportable transactions include:
-
Transactions the same as or substantially similar to tax avoidance transactions identified by the IRS,
-
Transactions offered to you under conditions of confidentiality for which you paid an advisor a minimum fee,
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Transactions for which you have, or a related party has, contractual protection against disallowance of the tax benefits,
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Transactions that result in losses of at least $2 million in any single tax year ($50,000 if from certain foreign currency
transactions) or $4 million in any combination of tax years,
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Transactions entered into before August 3, 2007, with asset holding periods of 45 days or less and that result in a tax credit
of more than $250,000, and
-
Transactions the same or substantially similar to one of the types of transactions the IRS has identified as a transaction
of interest.
For more information, see the Instructions for Form 8886.
Photographs of Missing Children
The Internal Revenue Service is a proud partner with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Photographs of
missing children selected by the Center may appear in this publication on pages that would otherwise be blank. You can help
bring these children home by looking at the photographs and calling 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) if you recognize a child.
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