What?!!! Why do I have to pay so much tax? None of my friends or family pay so much! Shocking! You must have made a mistake.
That's what I'm hearing from freelancers, mainly those who received a 1099-NEC. Yes, that 15.3% self employment tax really bites.
So here is why your friends may not be paying so much tax:
1) They work as a regular employee and receive a W-2. Half their social security and medicare taxes are paid by their employer, and half is withheld from their paycheck. They may even receive a tax withheld refund, if their withholding was too much. Self employed people don't have any of their 1099 salary withheld for tax (it's actually not a salary, it's the total yearly payment for your freelance services!).
2)Your friend/family you got your information from live in the US, and you are living abroad. You don't qualify for the earned income credit. Nor are you eligible for any state earned income credit or other refunds. You may even have to pay back advance child tax credit payments paid to you in error.
3)Your friend has enough children that the child tax credits cover the vast majority of their self employment tax. They may also have a lower income. You have less children, a higher income, or both.
4) You live abroad and can't easily obtain US citizenship for your children, since you didn't live in the US for 5 years. No US citizenship for children = no child tax credit for them. For you = big taxes. To the IRS, it's like your children don't exist. Yes, it's unfair. It may be worth a trip to the US to apply for citizenship for your children, if eligible through grandparents.
Your kids? Out of luck, if their parents and grandparents never lived in the US. They won't be able to obtain US citizenship for their children unless they actually move to the US.
Freelancers pay self employment tax just like any small business owner. Could be you only work for one company and feel like an employee, but sorry, you're not.
Sorry, that's the way things work out. Now a regular job doesn't sound so bad after all!
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