Income Tax question?

Question

I'm 17. Basically I'm new at this whole 'income tax' thing. I got my first job at Wendy's a few months ago. They had me fill out a 'W-2' form I believe.

Money is autimatically took out of my paycheck for taxation. Though today I started earning money by taking online surveys (I did some looking around and found a legit site, among a few others). How am I supposed to report that money earned? It's not took out automatically. Should I take out 15% of each check and then submit it when the IRS asks for it? And how am I supposed to report it in the first place.

Despite the extra money from the surveys, what am I supposed to do with my Wendy's income when 'tax time' comes around.

I'm so confused!!!

Someone explain some things to me, please.

Answer 1

You filled out a W-4. Next January, Wendy's will give you a W-2. You use this form to fill out your taxes. You can do it yourself, it would be a good thing to learn to do.

If you have survey income to report, you will use Form 1040 and report the income on Line 21 "Other income". You can indicate this is "Online survey income."

If you want to learn about taxes, there are lots of books available, or you can go to irs.gov and get publications online or mailed to you for free. Publication 17 is the one to start with.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf

Answer 2

You filled out a W-4 form for Wendy's, which tells them how much to take out in taxes from your paycheck for income tax.

At the end of the year, you'll get a W-2 form from Wendy's showing how much you made total and how much was withheld for taxes - then you'll fill out a tax return and submit it to the IRS.

Keep good records of the amount of money that you actually receive from the surveys. You'll report that also at the end of the year. Depending on how much you make, you might have to file quarterly estimated returns - but I'm guessing your income from the surveys will not be enough that you'll have to do this. If it looks like you're going to make a couple thousand dollars or more from the surveys, then ask again here on how to file quarterly - otherwise, like if it's more like a few hundred dollars, you can just put it in at the end when you file your return.

Answer 3

The form you filled out is a W-4 (W-2 is the form that you get at the end of the year that tells how much you made and what taxes you paid), which basically tells them if you are single, married that kind of thing so they can guess at how much is needed to be taken out of your paycheck. I say guess because next year you will need to fill your taxes and once all the information about what you make and how much you paid is added up and whatever special conditions apply your exact tax requirement will be determined. At that time you will either get a refund (they took too much out, which is usually the case for single person like you) or you will have to pay them if not enough was taken out. The W-4 can be filled at anytime (like next year to try to adjust this amount). Basically you want it balanced as well as possibel so that they don't keep your mone for a year (interest free) or you owe them anything.

On the surveys. Well yes you are suppose to declared that too, but if it isn't much I would gues most people wouldn't just like not declaring say money made from cutting grass.

If are going to declare it then usually would just declare it with your other income for your job, and again pay or not pay based on how much you owe for the total income minus the tax you already paid from your job. If the difference starts to get to large like you might owe say $500 in tax you could consider putting in a new W-4 where you take more tax out of your paycheck. If you were really racking in the bucks the IRS would want you to fill a "Estimated Tax form" and paid quarterly, but I seriously doubt you will fall into this catagory at this point. That is usually more for investors and other people that make money from places where they don't get a paycheck.

Answer 4

If your second source of income will not be too great, and I don't think it will, there is a section on the 1040A (federal tax) form you will fill out at tax time where you can not only claim the money you made but also claim your costs associated with it so it is not all taxable. In WI, we fill out a schedule 1 for the state (if you have deductions or credits or earn extra money etc) , maybe your state also has a schedule 1. So, those are your two tax forms, one for Federal tax and one for state. Again, it is very self-explanitory, when you get to that question, you simply report your earnings. Its like the easiest thing
Wendy's will send you a W-2 form for your 2007 taxes and you will recieve that no later than Jan 31st. April 15th of 2008 is your tax deadline to get your taxes done for the 2007 tax year. You will use both that W-2 and your recorded earning to compute your tax refund or tax you owe for that year.
Always do your federal tax form first and the state form uses some of those computations to complete their form.
Very good planning of you to put aside some money from your side job. Budget at least 30% for tax time.
Go to www.irs.gov for more info or forms. Your state also has a dept of revenue where you can get not only the forms but answers these questions you have.
Good luck!

Answer 5

you will probably find that the "legit" survey site income is so low that it doesn't matter.

There is no such thing as a legit survey site.

Hopefully the W2 you filled out was filled out correctly and they will be taking SLIGHTLY more out of your check than what you will owe in taxes...

But when you turn 18.. remember to take your last 1040 form with you to the polls. Read the line that says TOTAL TAX OWED... not the line that says if you had to send in money or get a refund.

And remember... Democrats are the ones who want the government to spend your money for you. But any politician who has been in Washington DC for more than 1 year is by definition corrupt.

Vote

Vote anti-incumbent.

Vote the bums out (Especially vote against Hillary and Ted Kenedy... Bush can't run again...)

Answer 6

If you don't receive a form at the end of the year for the online surveys,(and you probably won't) you need not report it. Wendy's will more than likely take enough out for your taxes so you don't need to worry about that. Also, when tax time comes around, don't pay the tax companies big dollars to file a short form return. Go online to H&R Block and do it yourself for free. It is SOOO Easy! Their site walks you right through it.

Answer 7

I'm assuming that you're getting the full amount from the survey job, not having taxes taken out.

When you file your income taxes, you just put your total income from both jobs, and deductions (from your W-2s). After you do the math, it'll show how much you owe in taxes.