Net Earnings From Self-Employment(p3)

In most cases, net earnings include your net profit from a farm or nonfarm business. If you were a partner in a partnership, see the following instructions.

If you were a general or limited partner in a partnership, include on line 1a or line 2, whichever applies, the amount of net earnings from self-employment from Schedule K-1 (Form 1065), box 14, code A, and Schedule K-1 (Form 1065-B), box 9, code J1. General partners should reduce this amount before entering it on Schedule SE by certain expenses (see your Schedule K-1 instructions). If you reduce the amount you enter on Schedule SE, you must attach an explanation. Limited partners include only guaranteed payments for services actually rendered to or on behalf of the partnership.

If a partner died and the partnership continued, include in self-employment income the deceased's distributive share of the partnership's ordinary income or loss through the end of the month in which he or she died. See section 1402(f).

If you were married and both you and your spouse were partners in a partnership, each of you must report your net earnings from self-employment from the partnership. Each of you must file a separate Schedule SE and report the partnership income or loss on Schedule E (Form 1040), Part II, for income tax purposes. If only one of you was a partner in a partnership, the spouse who was the partner must report his or her net earnings from self-employment from the partnership.

Your own distributive share of partnership income is included in figuring your net earnings from self-employment. Unlike the division of that income between spouses for figuring income tax, no part of your share can be included in figuring your spouse's net earnings from self-employment.

You are considered self-employed if you produced crops or livestock on someone else's land for a share of the crops or livestock produced (or a share of the proceeds from the sale of them). This applies even if you paid another person (an agent) to do the actual work or management for you. Report your net earnings for income tax purposes on Schedule F (Form 1040) and for SE tax purposes on Schedule SE. See Pub. 225 for details.

1. Salaries, fees, etc., subject to social security or Medicare tax that you received for performing services as an employee, including services performed as an employee under the railroad retirement system. This includes services performed as a public official (except as a fee basis government employee as explained in item 8 under Other Income and Losses Included in Net Earnings From Self-Employment on this page.
2. Fees received for services performed as a notary public. If you had no other income subject to SE tax, enter Exempt—Notary on Form 1040, line 56; do not file Schedule SE. However, if you had other earnings of $400 or more subject to SE tax, enter Exempt—Notary and the amount of your net profit as a notary public from Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ on the dotted line to the left of Schedule SE, line 3. Subtract that amount from the total of lines 1a, 1b, and 2, and enter the result on line 3.
3. Income you received as a retired partner under a written partnership plan that provides for lifelong periodic retirement payments if you had no other interest in the partnership and did not perform services for it during the year.
4. Income from real estate rentals if you did not receive the income in the course of a trade or business as a real estate dealer. Report this income on Schedule E, or on Schedule C or C-EZ if you and your spouse made an election to be taxed as a qualified joint venture.
5. Income from farm rentals (including rentals paid in crop shares) if, as landlord, you did not materially participate in the production or management of the production of farm products on the land. See chapter 12 of Pub. 225 for details. Report this income on Form 4835. Use two Forms 4835 if you and your spouse made an election to be taxed as a qualified joint venture.
6. Payments you receive from the Conservation Reserve Program if you are receiving social security benefits for retirement or disability. Deduct these payments on line 1b of Schedule SE.
7. Dividends on shares of stock and interest on bonds, notes, etc., if you did not receive the income in the course of your trade or business as a dealer in stocks or securities.
8. Gain or loss from:
   1. The sale or exchange of a capital asset;
   2. The sale, exchange, involuntary conversion, or other disposition of property unless the property is stock in trade or other property that would be includible in inventory, or held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of the business; or
   3. Certain transactions in timber, coal, or domestic iron ore.
9. Net operating losses from other years.
10. Termination payments you received as a former insurance salesperson if all of the following conditions are met.
    1. The payment was received from an insurance company because of services you performed as an insurance salesperson for the company.
    2. The payment was received after termination of your agreement to perform services for the company.
    3. You did not perform any services for the company after termination and before the end of the year in which you received the payment.
    4. You entered into a covenant not to compete against the company for at least a 1-year period beginning on the date of termination.
    5. The amount of the payment depended primarily on policies sold by or credited to your account during the last year of the agreement, or the extent to which those policies remain in force for some period after termination, or both.
    6. The amount of the payment did not depend to any extent on length of service or overall earnings from services performed for the company (regardless of whether eligibility for the payment depended on length of service).

If you were required to check the box on Schedule C or C-EZ, line 1, because you were a statutory employee, do not include the net profit or (loss) from that Schedule C, line 31 (or the net profit from Schedule C-EZ, line 3), on Short or Long Schedule SE, line 2. But if you file Long Schedule SE, be sure to include statutory employee social security wages and tips from Form W-2 on line 8a.

The optional methods may give you credit toward your social security coverage even though you have a loss or a small amount of income from self-employment.

Using the optional methods may qualify you to claim the EIC or give you a larger credit if your net earnings from self-employment (determined without using the optional methods) are less than $4,480. Figure the EIC with and without using the optional methods to see if the optional methods will benefit you.

Using the optional methods may qualify you to claim the additional child tax credit or give you a larger credit if your net earnings from self-employment (determined without using the optional methods) are less than $4,480. Figure the additional child tax credit with and without using the optional methods to see if the optional methods will benefit you.

The optional methods may help you qualify for this credit or give you a larger credit if your net earnings from self-employment (determined without using the optional methods) are less than $4,480. Figure this credit with and without using the optional methods to see if the optional methods will benefit you.

The optional methods of computing net earnings from self-employment may be used to figure your self-employed health insurance deduction.

You can change the method after you file your return. That is, you can change from the regular to the optional method or from the optional to the regular method. To do this, file Form 1040X.

You may use this method to figure your net earnings from farm self-employment if your gross farm income was $6,720 or less or your net farm profits were less than $4,851. Net farm profits are:

• The total of the amounts from Schedule F (Form 1040), line 36, and Schedule K-1 (Form 1065), box 14, code A, minus
• The amount you would have entered on Schedule SE, line 1b, had you not used the optional method.

There is no limit on how many years you can use this method.

Under this method, report in Part II, line 15, two-thirds of your gross farm income, up to $4,480, as your net earnings. This method can increase or decrease your net earnings from farm self-employment even if the farming business had a loss.

For a farm partnership, figure your share of gross income based on the partnership agreement. With guaranteed payments, your share of the partnership's gross income is your guaranteed payments plus your share of the gross income after it is reduced by all guaranteed payments made by the partnership. If you were a limited partner, include only guaranteed payments for services you actually rendered to or on behalf of the partnership.

You may be able to use this method to figure your net earnings from nonfarm self-employment if your net nonfarm profits were less than $4,851 and also less than 72.189% of your gross nonfarm income. Net nonfarm profits are the total of the amounts from:

• Schedule C (Form 1040), line 31,
• Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040), line 3,
• Schedule K-1 (Form 1065), box 14, code A (from other than farm partnerships), and
• Schedule K-1 (Form 1065-B),  
  box 9, code J1.

To use this method, you also must be regularly self-employed. You meet this requirement if your actual net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more in 2 of the 3 years preceding the year you use the nonfarm optional method. The net earnings of $400 or more could be from either farm or nonfarm earnings or both. The net earnings include your distributive share of partnership income or loss subject to SE tax.

Use of the nonfarm optional method from nonfarm self-employment is limited to 5 years. The 5 years do not have to be consecutive.

Under this method, report in Part II, line 17, two-thirds of your gross nonfarm income, up to the amount on line 16, as your net earnings. But you cannot report less than your actual net earnings from nonfarm self-employment.

Figure your share of gross income from a nonfarm partnership in the same manner as a farm partnership. See Farm Optional Method on this page for details.

If you can use both methods, you can report less than your total actual net earnings from farm and nonfarm self-employment, but you cannot report less than your actual net earnings from nonfarm self-employment alone.

If you use both methods to figure net earnings, you cannot report more than $4,480 of net earnings from self-employment.