19 and confused - How to file taxes for content creation income? Need HELP!

You definitely aren't going to jail! This is a common situation for young self-employed people, so don't worry. Since you're earning money without having taxes withheld (like they would be from a regular job's paycheck), you'll need to file as self-employed using Schedule C with your Form 1040. With $32k in self-employment income, you'll owe both income tax and self-employment tax (which covers Social Security and Medicare). The self-employment tax is about 15.3% of your net profit after business expenses. For income tax, it depends on your total situation, but there are standard deductions that will reduce what you owe. The good news is that yes, the IRS definitely offers payment plans! You can set up what's called an Installment Agreement when you file. If you owe less than $50,000, you can apply online through the IRS website. The setup fee is around $31 if you do it online with automatic payments. Then you'll pay monthly until it's paid off. Make sure to claim all legitimate business expenses on your Schedule C - things like equipment, software subscriptions, internet costs related to your content creation. This will reduce your taxable income.

I went through something similar last year when I started making money on social platforms. The tax forms were so confusing and I was worried about making mistakes. I ended up using https://taxr.ai and it seriously saved me so much stress. Their AI analyzed my situation and gave me personalized guidance about which deductions I qualified for as a content creator. It even helped me figure out exactly what I could write off from my equipment purchases and travel expenses related to content. The best part was that it explained everything in simple terms that didn't make my head spin like those IRS publications do.

Hey everyone! Just wanted to follow up after trying that taxr.ai site that was suggested here. I was really surprised by how helpful it was for my situation! It found several deductions specific to content creation I had no idea about - like being able to deduct a percentage of my phone bill since I use it for content planning and posting. It also explained exactly how to handle the foreign income reporting which was my biggest concern. Turns out I qualified for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion since I've been outside the US for most of the year, which saved me thousands in taxes! The explanations were super clear and it generated all the forms I needed. Definitely worth checking out if you're in a similar situation!

If you need to actually talk to someone at the IRS about setting up a payment plan (which I HIGHLY recommend doing), good luck getting through to them on the phone. I spent literally hours on hold last year trying to sort out my payment plan. Eventually I found https://claimyr.com and used their service to get an IRS agent to call ME instead of waiting on hold forever. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was honestly shocked when I got a call back from an actual IRS person within about 20 minutes. They helped me set up my payment plan with terms I could actually manage. For self-employed people, especially in your situation being overseas, sometimes you really need to talk to a human to get proper guidance.

I need to apologize for my skeptical comment earlier. I actually tried the Claimyr service yesterday out of desperation after spending 3 hours on hold with the IRS myself. I genuinely can't believe it, but I got a call from an actual IRS agent within about 15 minutes after signing up! They helped me set up a payment plan for my back taxes with monthly payments I can actually afford. I've been stressing for weeks about how to handle my tax situation, and in one phone call it was resolved. If you're in a situation where you really need to talk to someone at the IRS about payment options, this is absolutely worth it. I wish I'd known about this years ago instead of playing the hold music game for hours.

Don't forget that as a self-employed person, you should also be making quarterly estimated tax payments throughout the year! This is something I learned the hard way my first year of freelancing. The IRS expects you to pay as you earn, and if you wait until tax filing time, you might get hit with underpayment penalties on top of what you owe. For 2025, the quarterly payment due dates are April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 (2026). Set calendar reminders! Even if you're abroad, these deadlines still apply to US citizens.

I'm also a content creator and I found that using a tax software specifically designed for freelancers/self-employed people was super helpful. I tried FreeTaxUSA last year and it walked me through all the self-employment stuff pretty clearly. TurboTax Self-Employed is good too but more expensive. Don't try to do this by hand your first time - the software asks you questions in plain English and fills in the right forms.