Who Must Pay SE Tax

Self-Employed Persons You must pay SE tax if you had net earnings of $400 or more as a self-employed person. If you are in business (nonfarm or farm) for yourself, you are self-employed.

You must also pay SE tax on your share of certain partnership income and your guaranteed payments. See Partnership Income or Loss under the Instructions for Schedule SE (Form 1040), Part I.

Employees of Churches and Church Organizations If you had church employee income of $108.28 or more, you must pay SE tax on that income. Church employee income is wages you received as an employee (other than as a minister or member of a religious order) of a church or qualified church-controlled organization that has a certificate in effect electing exemption from employer social security and Medicare taxes.

If your only income subject to SE tax is church employee income, skip lines 1a through 4b on Schedule SE (Form 1040), Part I. Enter zero on line 4c and go to line 5a.

Ministers, Members of Religious Orders, and Christian Science Practitioners In most cases, you must pay self-employment (SE) tax on salaries and other income for services you performed as a

minister, a member of a religious order who has not taken a vow of poverty, or a Christian Science practitioner. But, if you filed Form 4361, Application for Exemption From Self-Employment Tax for Use by Ministers, Members of Religious Orders and Christian Science Practitioners, and received IRS approval, you will be exempt from paying SE tax on those net earnings. If you had no other income subject to SE tax and do not owe any of the taxes listed earlier under Who Must File, you aren’t required to file Form 1040-SS. However, if you had other earnings of $400 or more subject to SE tax, see Schedule SE (Form 1040), Part I, lines 4a through 4c.