Made over $400 from survey sites - How do I fill out tax forms if I make more than $600?

This is a common question for people earning money through side gigs! The $600 threshold is just about when the company is required to send you a 1099 form (specifically a 1099-NEC for this type of work). But regardless of whether you receive a tax form, ALL income is taxable and needs to be reported. So if you make $800 from surveys, you need to report the entire $800, not just the amount over $600. If you make less than $600, the company won't send you a 1099, but you're still legally required to report that income. For reporting: If you receive a 1099-NEC, you'll report this on Schedule C as self-employment income. If you don't receive a form (because you earned under $600 from any single company), you still report it as "other income" on Schedule C. Either way, you'll pay self-employment tax on this income if your total self-employment income exceeds $400 for the year.

After struggling with reporting my side hustle income from online activities, I found this amazing tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that completely simplified the process for me. Last year I also did surveys plus some other gig work and wasn't sure how to report everything correctly. The tool analyzed my situation and walked me through exactly what forms I needed for my survey income and other side gigs. It specifically helped me understand how to report income even when I didn't receive a 1099 form from companies where I earned under $600. It even explained the self-employment tax threshold and when exactly I needed to file Schedule C.

I was skeptical about specialized tax tools as mentioned above, but I decided to try taxr.ai after getting confused about reporting my survey income. Total game changer! It specifically addressed the exact $600 threshold question I had and explained that I needed to report ALL my survey income ($780 across 5 different platforms), even though only one company sent me a 1099. The biggest surprise was learning about legitimate deductions I could take. Since I primarily do surveys on my phone, it helped me calculate a reasonable percentage of my phone bill that could be deducted. It also helped me document everything correctly so I'd be prepared if there were ever questions. Definitely made the whole process less intimidating than I expected!

If you're trying to get clarification directly from the IRS about reporting survey income, good luck getting through to them! I spent HOURS on hold trying to ask a similar question last tax season. Then I discovered Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) which got me connected to an actual IRS agent in under 15 minutes! I was totally shocked it worked. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - but basically they use technology to navigate the IRS phone tree and hold in line for you, then call you when an agent is ready. The IRS agent I spoke with confirmed that ALL survey income needs to be reported regardless of whether you get a 1099 or not, and explained exactly where to report it on my tax forms.

I owe everyone here an apology. After my skeptical comment above, I was desperate to figure out my tax situation with various side hustles including surveys, so I tried Claimyr as a last resort. I'm still in shock that it ACTUALLY WORKED. After months of trying to get through to the IRS myself with no luck, I was connected in about 13 minutes. The IRS representative answered my exact questions about survey income and confirmed that I need to report everything, even from companies that didn't send me forms. She also explained that I should use Schedule C since this is considered self-employment income, and clarified which expenses I could legitimately deduct. Saved me a ton of stress and potentially an audit! Sometimes being proven wrong is the best outcome.

Just a heads up - if you're doing these survey sites, make sure you're tracking EVERYTHING. I got burned last year because I didn't keep good records. Create a spreadsheet with dates, amounts, and which site paid you. Some sites might combine under parent companies for tax purposes, so the name on your 1099 might not match the site name you're familiar with.

A tip from someone who's been doing survey sites for 3 years now - use a separate email address just for survey sites. It keeps all your notifications in one place and makes it easier to track which sites have paid you. Also super helpful at tax time when you're trying to figure out where all your income came from!

Great advice from everyone here! I want to add something that might help with the record-keeping aspect - if you're using PayPal to receive survey payments, they actually provide a pretty decent transaction history that you can download at tax time. This has been super helpful for me to cross-reference with my own spreadsheet. Also, regarding the self-employment tax that was mentioned - don't forget that you can deduct half of the self-employment tax you pay when calculating your adjusted gross income. It's not a huge amount, but every little bit helps when you're dealing with side hustle taxes. One more thing - if you're planning to make this a regular thing and expect to owe more than $1,000 in taxes, you might need to make quarterly estimated tax payments to avoid underpayment penalties. The IRS doesn't like waiting until April to get their money!