If you receive a Form 1099-MISC Miscellaneous Income with an amount in Box 14 for nonemployee compensation, the IRS position is that you have your own small business.

Your "business" is whatever you do to earn the income that is reported to you on the Form 1099-MISC, Box 14. When you complete the Schedule C (Form 1040) Profit or Loss From Business section of the Federal Q&A, proceed as though you have your own business for tax purposes.

For example:

• On the screen titled Enter your business name, only enter information if the name of your "business" is different from your own name.
• On the screen titled Enter your Employer Identification Number (EIN), only Enter Employer Identification Number (leave blank if no EIN) if you have an official, IRS-issued Employer ID Number (EIN) that you requested (don't enter the number listed on the Form 1099-MISC). Note. If you don't have an IRS-issued EIN, leave this field blank. DO NOT enter your Social Security Number (SSN).
• On the screen titled Enter the business address, only enter information if the Street and/or the ZIP code of the address of your "business" is different from your own.
• On the screen titled Which of these categories best describes your work?, click the box that best indicates what you did to earn the income reported to you on the Form 1099-MISC.
• On the screen titled Select the business activity that best describes Taxpayer's/Spouse's work, select the Code that best describes your business to earn the income reported to you on the Form 1099-MISC from the drop-down.

Note. You may not consider the work you did as part of having your own "business," but the IRS does if your income from that work is reported to you on Form 1099-MISC. If you don't have a different business name and address, just leave the name and address fields blank. Your own name and address will be used by default. Do not enter the business information for the person or company who paid you and issued the Form 1099-MISC. For tax purposes in this case, you are the business. The payer's information would only be entered on the screen titled 1099-MISC: Enter the payer's information, as the entity (payer) that issued you the Form 1099-MISC.

Related Links

• IRS Website Provides Tools to Help Small Businesses Understand Employment Taxes
• IRS Four Things to Know about Taxes and Starting a Business website

Note that any link in the information above is updated each year automatically and will take you to the most recent version of the document at the time it is accessed.