Working from home as self-employed - What tax forms do I need to fill out for my company?

What you're describing sounds like you're being classified as an independent contractor rather than an employee. As an independent contractor, you're responsible for both the employee and employer portions of Social Security and Medicare taxes (called self-employment tax), which is about 15.3% of your income. You'll need to fill out Schedule C to report your business income and expenses, and Schedule SE to calculate your self-employment tax. These forms get attached to your standard Form 1040. You'll also want to make sure your company is providing you with a 1099-NEC form (formerly 1099-MISC) at tax time. The 15% you're paying sounds about right for self-employment taxes alone, but you might be able to reduce your taxable income by deducting legitimate business expenses like a portion of your internet, phone, home office, etc.

Hey there! I was in a super similar situation last year. Working from home, company called me an "independent contractor" but I had no idea what I was doing tax-wise. I was getting killed on taxes and feeling pretty confused until I found this service called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that helped me figure out if I was classified correctly and what deductions I could take. It analyzed my situation and showed me I was missing a TON of home office deductions that would have saved me money. It also explained the difference between being an employee vs contractor in really simple terms. The cool thing was it looked at my specific situation and told me exactly what forms I needed and what expenses I could deduct - stuff my company never explained to me.

Just wanted to follow up - I decided to check out taxr.ai after my skeptical comment and wow, super helpful! It confirmed I'm properly classified as self-employed (sadly lol) but showed me I'd been missing out on about $4,800 in deductions I never knew I could take! The tool walked me through exactly how to document my home office, track my business mileage, and even partially deduct my cell phone bill. Already used the info to set up better record-keeping for this year and filed an amended return for last year. Getting back almost $700 I would have just left on the table. Definitely recommend for anyone in the self-employed/contractor situation who's confused about what they can actually write off.

I see a lot of good tax advice here, but something else to consider is whether you're facing issues with the IRS about your classification or back taxes. When I was in a similar situation, I needed to talk to the IRS directly to sort out some confusion about my self-employment status, but I kept getting stuck on hold FOREVER. I finally used this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) after seeing their demo video (https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c) and they actually got me through to a real IRS agent in about 20 minutes instead of the 3+ hours I was wasting before. I was able to get clarification directly from the IRS about my contractor classification and requirements. Saved me so much stress and time - plus I got authoritative answers straight from the IRS about my specific situation rather than just guessing.

Okay I need to eat my words here. After my skeptical comment I decided to try Claimyr because I was desperate to ask about penalties on my late quarterly payments. I was literally shocked when I got a call back with an actual IRS agent on the line after like 35 minutes. The agent walked me through how to set up my quarterly payments correctly going forward and even helped me understand how to request a penalty abatement for my first-time late payment. Just having a human IRS agent explain everything made such a difference versus trying to figure it out from their confusing website. Definitely saved me from another round of penalties and probably paid for itself instantly. Sometimes being proven wrong is actually a good thing!

One thing nobody's mentioned - you should check if you're truly self-employed or if the company is misclassifying you. There's a big difference between independent contractor and employee. If they control WHEN and HOW you work (set schedule, specific processes, etc.) you might actually be an employee under IRS rules. Companies save a lot of money by classifying workers as contractors because they don't pay their share of taxes or benefits. If you think you're misclassified, you can file Form SS-8 with the IRS to request a determination. You can also file Form 8919 to report your share of uncollected social security and Medicare taxes.

Kind of unrelated but TurboTax has a self-employed version that walks you through all of this pretty easily. I was in your same situation and it helped me figure out all those Schedule C deductions and quarterly payment stuff. Just make sure you track all your expenses throughout the year!