When I was in ur situation I just put "EXEMPT" on my w4 (there should be a place for this on the form). That way they don't take any federal taxes out at all. Just be aware they'll still take out Social Security and Medicare taxes no matter what (those are different

Unrelated to the withholding question, but make sure your parents understand how claiming you impacts their taxes vs you filing independently. Sometimes parents claim kids without actually running the numbers both ways. In some situations, it might be better overall if they don't claim you, but you'd need to talk with them about it.

This happened to me once and turned out to be related to a phone my wife bought that was added to our family plan. The phone itself was billed to the phone carrier account but for some reason the sales tax posted separately to my credit card. Check if anyone else in your household might have made a purchase?

Watch out for what happens next! These small tax charges are often "test charges" by fraudsters. If they go through without being disputed, they'll hit you with much larger charges. I'd recommend: 1) Dispute the charge immediately 2) Ask for a new card number 3) Check your credit reports at all three bureaus 4) Set up fraud alerts and credit freezes Don't wait on this - I learned the hard way and ended up with $3000 in fraudulent charges after ignoring a strange $15 tax charge.

Something nobody mentioned yet - if you have a regular W-2 job AND self-employment income, you still need to report the self-employment income even if it's under $400. The $400 threshold is just for paying the self-employment tax (Social Security/Medicare), but you still pay income tax on all your earnings. I learned this the hard way when I got a letter from the IRS about unreported income from a small web design project I did.

Jumping in to add something important - keep GOOD RECORDS of your self-employment income and expenses! I've been self-employed for 3 years and the biggest thing that saved me was creating a simple spreadsheet from day one. Log every payment you receive and every expense related to your work. Take photos of receipts. If you use your car for business, track miles. It's so much easier to do this as you go than to try reconstructing everything at tax time.

Don't overthink this! I've been driving for Lyft and Uber on weekends for 3 years while working my regular 9-5. Here's what I do: 1. Track ALL my miles when the app is on (I use Stride - it's free) 2. Save receipts for car washes, phone mounts, etc. 3. Put aside about 25% of what I make from driving 4. At tax time, I use the 1099 from Uber and fill out Schedule C and Schedule SE I've never done quarterly payments and never had an issue. My regular job withholding covers the extra tax. If you're really worried, just put some money aside in case you owe at tax time.

As a teacher who also drives for DoorDash during breaks, I recommend using the IRS withholding calculator on their website. Input both your teaching income AND estimated gig earnings, and it'll tell you if you need to adjust your W-4 at school to cover the extra income. I just had my school district withhold an extra $50 per paycheck, which covered my DoorDash earnings so I didn't need to bother with quarterly payments. Way simpler than figuring out estimated payments!

Quick question - if I amend my 2022 return for missed mileage, will that increase my chances of being audited? I've heard that filing amendments raises red flags.

For those amending multiple years of tax returns for mileage, be strategic about when you file them. Don't send them all at once because that can look suspicious to the IRS. Space them out a few weeks apart. Also, don't forget that if your self-employment net income (after deducting mileage) was over $400 for any of these years, you still owe self-employment tax even if you were below the standard filing threshold. When people say "I made less than the threshold," they're often thinking of income tax, not self-employment tax which kicks in at a much lower level.