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Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
2023 Instructions for Schedule SE
Self-Employment
Tax
Use Schedule SE (Form 1040) to figure the tax due on net earnings from self-employ-
ment. The Social Security Administration (SSA) uses the information from Sched-
ule SE to figure your benefits under the social security program. This tax applies no
matter how old you are and even if you are already getting social security or Medicare
benefits.
Additional information. See Pub. 225 or Pub. 334.
Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code unless
otherwise noted.
Future Developments
For the latest information about developments related to Sched-
ule SE (Form 1040) and its instructions, such as legislation
enacted after they were published, go to
IRS.gov/ScheduleSE.
What's New
Maximum income subject to social security tax. For 2023,
the maximum amount of self-employment income subject to
social security tax is $160,200.
Form 1040-SS, Part V and Part VI, have been replaced.
For 2023, Schedule SE (Form 1040) is available to be filed
with Form 1040-SS, if applicable. For additional information,
see the Instructions for Form 1040-SS.
General Instructions
Who Must File Schedule SE
You must file Schedule SE if:
•
The amount on line 4c of Schedule SE is $400 or more,
or
•
You had church employee income of $108.28 or more.
(Income from services you performed as a minister, member of
a religious order, or Christian Science practitioner isn't church
employee income.) See Employees of Churches and Church
Organizations, later.
Exception to filing Schedule SE. If you filed Form 4029 or
Form 4361 and received IRS approval, you may not need to
file Schedule SE. See Ministers, Members of Religious Orders,
and Christian Science Practitioners and Members of Certain
Religious Sects, later, for information on how to report your
self-employment earnings.
Even if you had a loss or a small amount of income
from self-employment, it may be to your benefit to file
Schedule SE and use either "optional method" in the
instructions for Part II of Schedule SE (discussed later).
TIP
Who Must Pay Self-Employment (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 (farm or non-
farm) for yourself, you are self-employed.
You must also pay SE tax on your share of certain partner-
ship income and your guaranteed payments. See Partnership
Income or Loss, later.
Employees of Churches and Church Organizations
If you had church employee income of $108.28 or more, you
must pay SE tax. Church employee income is wages you re-
ceived as an employee (other than as a minister, member of a
religious order, or Christian Science practitioner) of a church or
qualified church-controlled organization that has a certificate in
effect electing an exemption from employer social security and
Medicare taxes.
Ministers, Members of Religious Orders, and
Christian Science Practitioners
In most cases, you must pay SE tax on salaries and other in-
come for services you performed as a minister, member of a re-
ligious order who hasn’t taken a vow of poverty, or Christian
Science practitioner. But if you filed Form 4361 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, en-
ter “Exempt—Form 4361” on Schedule 2 (Form 1040), line 4.
However, if you had other earnings of $400 or more subject to
SE tax, see line A at the top of Schedule SE.
If you have ever filed Form 2031 to elect social secur-
ity coverage on your earnings as a minister, you can’t
revoke that election.
If you must pay SE tax, include this income on Sched-
ule SE, line 2. But don’t report it on Schedule SE, line 5a; it
isn’t considered church employee income. Also, include on
line 2:
•
The rental value of a home or an allowance for a home
furnished to you (including payments for utilities); and
•
The value of meals and lodging provided to you, your
spouse, and your dependents for your employer's convenience.
However, don’t include on line 2:
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•
Retirement benefits you received from a church plan after
retirement, or
•
The rental value of a home or an allowance for a home
furnished to you (including payments for utilities) after retire-
ment.
If you were a duly ordained minister who was an employee
of a church and you must pay SE tax, the unreimbursed busi-
ness expenses that you incurred as a church employee are not
deductible as an itemized deduction for income tax purposes.
However, when figuring SE tax, subtract on line 2 the allowa-
ble expenses from your self-employment earnings and attach
an explanation.
If you were a U.S. citizen or resident alien serving outside
the United States as a minister or member of a religious order
and you must pay SE tax, you can’t reduce your net earnings
by the foreign earned income exclusion or the foreign housing
exclusion or deduction.
See Pub. 517 for additional details regarding social security
for members of the clergy and religious workers.
Members of Certain Religious Sects
If you have conscientious objections to social security insur-
ance because of your membership in and belief in the teachings
of a religious sect recognized as being in existence at all times
since December 31, 1950, and which has provided a reasonable
level of living for its dependent members, you are exempt from
SE tax if you received IRS approval by filing Form 4029. In
this case, don’t file Schedule SE. Instead, enter “Ex-
empt—Form 4029” on Schedule 2 (Form 1040), line 4. See
Pub. 517 for details.
U.S. Citizens Employed by Foreign Governments or
International Organizations
You must pay SE tax on income you earned as a U.S. citizen
employed by a foreign government (or, in certain cases, by a
wholly owned instrumentality of a foreign government or an
international organization under the International Organizations
Immunities Act) for services performed in the United States,
Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands, or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Re-
port income from this employment on Schedule SE, line 2. If
you performed services elsewhere as an employee of a foreign
government or an international organization, those earnings are
exempt from SE tax.
Exception—Dual citizens. A person with dual U.S.-foreign
citizenship is generally considered to be a U.S. citizen for so-
cial security purposes. However, if you are a U.S. citizen and
also a citizen of a country with which the United States has a
bilateral social security agreement, other than Canada or Italy,
your work for the government of that foreign country is always
exempt from U.S. social security taxes. For further information
about these agreements, see the exception shown in the next
section.
U.S. Citizens or Resident Aliens Living Outside the
United States
If you are a self-employed U.S. citizen or resident alien living
outside the United States, in most cases you must pay SE tax.
Foreign earnings from self-employment can’t be reduced by
your foreign earned income exclusion when computing SE tax.
Exception. The United States has social security agreements
with many countries to eliminate dual taxes under two social
security systems. Under these agreements, you must generally
pay social security and Medicare taxes to only the country in
which you live.
The United States now has social security agreements with
the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil,
Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lux-
embourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Slo-
vak Republic, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzer-
land, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay.
If you have questions about international social security
agreements, or to see if any additional agreements have been
entered into, you can go to the SSA's International Programs
website at SSA.gov/international. The website also provides
contact information for questions about benefits and the agree-
ments.
If your self-employment income is exempt from SE tax, you
should get a statement from the appropriate agency of the for-
eign country verifying that your self-employment income is
subject to social security coverage in that country. If the for-
eign country won’t issue the statement, go to the SSA Office of
Earnings and International Operations at SSA International
Programs Online Certificate of Coverage Service. Don’t com-
plete Schedule SE. Instead, attach a copy of the statement to
Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR, and enter “Exempt, see at-
tached statement” on Schedule 2 (Form 1040), line 4.
Nonresident Alien
If you are a self-employed nonresident alien living in the Uni-
ted States, you must pay SE tax if an international social secur-
ity agreement in effect determines that you are covered under
the U.S. social security system. See Exception under U.S. Citi-
zens or Resident Aliens Living Outside the United States, earli-
er, for information about international social security agree-
ments. If your self-employment income is subject to SE tax,
complete Schedule SE and file it with your Form 1040-NR.
Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Cases
While you are a debtor in a chapter 11 bankruptcy case, your
net profit or loss from self-employment (for example, from
Schedule C or Schedule F) won't be included in your Form
1040 or 1040-SR income. Instead, it will be included on the in-
come tax return (Form 1041) of the bankruptcy estate. Howev-
er, you (not the bankruptcy estate) are responsible for paying
SE tax on your net earnings from self-employment.
Enter on the dotted line to the left of Schedule SE, line 3,
“Chap. 11 bankruptcy income” and the amount of your net
profit or (loss). Combine that amount with the total of lines 1a,
1b, and 2 (if any) and enter the result on line 3.
SE-2
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For other reporting requirements, see Chapter 11 Bankrupt-
cy Cases in the Instructions for Form 1040.
More Than One Business
If you had two or more businesses subject to SE tax, your net
earnings from self-employment are the combined net earnings
from all of your businesses. If you had a loss in one business, it
reduces the income from another. Figure the combined SE tax
on one Schedule SE.
Joint Returns
Show the name of the spouse with self-employment income on
Schedule SE. If both spouses have self-employment income,
each must file a separate Schedule SE.
Include the total profits or losses from all businesses on
Form 1040 or 1040-SR. Enter the combined SE tax on Sched-
ule 2 (Form 1040), line 4.
Community Income
If any of the income from a business (including farming) is
community income, then the income and deductions are repor-
ted as follows.
•
If only one spouse participates in the business, all of the
income from that business is the self-employment earnings of
the spouse who carried on the business.
•
If both spouses participate, the income and deductions are
allocated to the spouses based on their distributive shares.
•
If either or both spouses are partners in a partnership, see
Partnership Income or Loss, later.
•
If both spouses elected to treat the business as a qualify-
ing joint venture, see Qualified Joint Ventures, later.
Married filing separately. If you and your spouse had com-
munity income and file separate returns, attach Schedule SE to
the return of each spouse with self-employment earnings under
the rules described earlier. Also, attach Schedule(s) C or F
(showing the spouse's share of community income and expen-
ses) to the return of each spouse.
Spouse who carried on the business. If you are the only
spouse who carried on the business, you must include on
Schedule SE, line 3, the net profit or (loss) reported on the oth-
er spouse's Schedule C or F (except in those cases described
later under Income and Losses Not Included in Net Earnings
From Self-Employment). Enter on the dotted line to the left of
Schedule SE, line 3, “Community income taxed to spouse” and
the amount of any net profit or (loss) allocated to your spouse
as community income. Combine that amount with the total of
lines 1a, 1b, and 2. Enter the result on line 3.
Spouse who didn’t carry on the business. If you aren’t the
spouse who carried on the business and you had no other in-
come subject to SE tax, enter “Exempt community income” on
Schedule 2 (Form 1040), line 4. Don’t file Schedule SE.
But if you have $400 or more of other earnings subject to
SE tax, you must file Schedule SE. Include on Schedule SE,
line 1a or 2, the net profit or (loss) from Schedule(s) C or F al-
located to you as community income. On the dotted line to the
left of Schedule SE, line 3, enter “Exempt community income”
and the allocated amount. Figure the amount to enter on line 3
as follows.
•
If the allocated amount is a net profit, subtract it from the
total of lines 1a, 1b, and 2.
•
If the allocated amount is a loss, treat it as a positive
amount and add it to the total of lines 1a, 1b, and 2.
Community income included on Schedule(s) C or F
must be divided for income tax purposes based on the
community property laws of your state. See Pub. 555
for more information.
Qualified Joint Ventures (QJV)
If you and your spouse materially participate as the only mem-
bers of a jointly owned and operated business, and you file a
joint return for the tax year, you can make a joint election to be
taxed as a QJV instead of a partnership. For information on
what it means to materially participate, see Material participa-
tion in the Instructions for Schedule C.
To make this election, you must divide all items of income,
gain, loss, deduction, and credit attributable to the business be-
tween you and your spouse in accordance with your respective
interests in the venture. Each of you must file a separate Sched-
ule C or F. On each line of your separate Schedule C or F, you
must enter your share of the applicable income, deduction, or
loss. Each of you must also file a separate Schedule SE to pay
SE tax, as applicable.
For more information on qualified joint ventures, go to
IRS.gov/QJV.
Rental real estate business. If you and your spouse make the
election to be taxed as a QJV for your rental real estate busi-
ness, the income generally isn’t subject to SE tax. To indicate
that election, be sure to check the “QJV” box in Part I, line 2,
of each Schedule E that the rental property is listed on. Don’t
file Schedule SE unless you have other income subject to SE
tax. For an exception to this income not being subject to SE
tax, see item 3 under Other Income and Losses Included in Net
Earnings From Self-Employment, later.
If you and your spouse make the election for a farm rental
business that you report on Form 4835, Farm Rental Income
and Expenses, each of you must file a separate Form 4835 to
report your share of farm rental income based on crops or live-
stock produced by the tenant. Don’t file Schedule SE unless
you have other income subject to the SE tax.
Fiscal Year Filers
If your tax year is a fiscal year, use the tax rate and annual
earnings limit that apply at the time the fiscal year begins.
Don’t prorate the tax or annual earnings limit for a fiscal year
that overlaps the date of a change in the tax or annual earnings
limit.
Line Instructions
You will need to figure your net earnings from self-employ-
ment. To find out what is included as net earnings from
self-employment, see Net Earnings From Self-Employment, lat-
er.
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Enter all negative amounts in (parentheses).
Instructions for Part I
You Have Only Church Employee Income
Subject to SE Tax
If your only income subject to SE tax is church employee in-
come (described earlier under Employees of Churches and
Church Organizations), skip lines 1 through 4b. Enter -0- on
line 4c and go to line 5a.
Note. Income from services you perform as a minister, mem-
ber of a religious order, or Christian Science practitioner isn’t
church employee income.
Line 1b
If you were receiving social security retirement or social secur-
ity disability benefits at the time you received your Conserva-
tion Reserve Program (CRP) payment(s), enter the amount of
your taxable CRP payment(s) on line 1b. These payments are
included on Schedule F, line 4b, or listed in box 20, code AQ,
of Schedule K-1 (Form 1065).
Lines 4a Through 4c
If both lines 4a and 4c are less than $400 and you have an
amount on line 1b, combine lines 1a and 2.
•
If the total of lines 1a and 2 is $434 or more, file Sched-
ule SE (completed through line 4c) with your tax return. En-
ter -0- on Schedule 2 (Form 1040), line 4.*
•
If the total of lines 1a and 2 is less than $434, don’t file
Schedule SE unless you choose to use an optional method to
figure your SE tax.
* If you also have church employee income (described earlier
under Employees of Churches and Church Organizations), also
complete lines 5a and 5b. Complete the rest of Schedule SE, as
appropriate.
Line 13
If you are filing Form 1040-SS, skip this line.
Additional Medicare Tax
A 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax may apply to you if the total
amount on line 6 of all your Schedules SE exceeds one of the
following threshold amounts (based on your filing status).
•
Married filing jointly—$250,000
•
Married filing separately—$125,000
•
Single, Head of household, or Qualifying surviving
spouse—$200,000
If you have both wages and self-employment income, the
threshold amount for applying the Additional Medicare Tax on
the self-employment income is reduced (but not below zero) by
the amount of wages subject to Additional Medicare Tax.
Use Form 8959, Additional Medicare Tax, to figure this tax.
For more information, see the Instructions for Form 8959, or
go to IRS.gov/ADMTfaqs.
TIP
Net Earnings From Self-Employment
In most cases, net earnings include your net profit from a farm
or nonfarm business.
Partnership Income or Loss
If you were a general or limited partner in a partnership, in-
clude on line 1a or line 2, whichever applies, the amount of net
earnings from self-employment from box 14, code A, of
Schedule K-1 (Form 1065). General partners should reduce this
amount by certain expenses before entering it on Schedule SE.
See your Schedule K-1 instructions. If you reduce the amount
you enter on Schedule SE, you must attach an explanation.
Limited partners should 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 the partner 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 their net earnings
from self-employment from the partnership.
Community income. Your own distributive share of partner-
ship 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-em-
ployment.
Share Farming
You are considered self-employed if you produce crops or live-
stock on someone else's land for a share of the crops or live-
stock 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 de-
tails.
Other Income and Losses Included in Net
Earnings From Self-Employment
1. Rental income from a farm if, as landlord, you material-
ly participated in the production or management of the produc-
tion of farm products on this land. This income is farm earn-
ings. To determine whether you materially participated in farm
management or production, don’t consider the activities of any
agent who acted for you. The material participation tests for
landlords are explained in Pub. 225.
2. Cash or a payment-in-kind from the Department of Ag-
riculture for participating in a land diversion program.
3. Payments for the use of rooms or other space when you
also provided substantial services for the convenience of your
tenants. Examples are hotel rooms, boarding houses, tourist
SE-4
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camps or homes, trailer parks, parking lots, warehouses, and
storage garages. See Pub. 334 for more information.
4. Income from the retail sale of newspapers and maga-
zines if you were age 18 or older and kept the profits.
5. Income you receive as a direct seller. Newspaper carriers
or distributors of any age are direct sellers if certain conditions
apply. See Pub. 334 for details.
6. Amounts received by current or former self-employed
insurance agents and salespersons that are:
a. Paid after retirement but figured as a percentage of com-
missions received from the paying company before retirement,
b. Renewal commissions, or
c. Deferred commissions paid after retirement for sales
made before retirement.
However, certain termination payments received by former
insurance salespersons aren’t included in net earnings from
self-employment (as explained in item 10 under Income and
Losses Not Included in Net Earnings From Self-Employment,
later).
7. Income of certain crew members of fishing vessels with
crews of normally fewer than 10 people. See Pub. 334 for de-
tails.
8. Fees as a state or local government employee if you
were paid only on a fee basis and the job wasn’t covered under
a federal-state social security coverage agreement.
9. Interest received in the course of any trade or business,
such as interest on notes or accounts receivable.
10.
Fees and other payments received by you for services as
a director of a corporation.
11.
Recapture amounts under sections 179 and 280F that
you included in gross income because the business use of the
property dropped to 50% or less. Don’t include amounts you
recaptured on the disposition of property. See Form 4797.
12.
Generally, fees you received as a professional fiduciary.
This may also apply to fees paid to you as a nonprofessional
fiduciary if the fees relate to active participation in the opera-
tion of the estate's business, or the management of an estate
that required extensive management activities over a long peri-
od of time.
13.
Gain or loss from section 1256 contracts or related prop-
erty by an options or commodities dealer in the normal course
of dealing in or trading section 1256 contracts.
Income and Losses Not Included in Net
Earnings From Self-Employment
1. Salaries, fees, and other income subject to social securi-
ty or Medicare tax that you received for performing services as
an employee, including services performed as an employee un-
der the railroad retirement system. This includes services per-
formed as a public official (except as a fee-basis government
employee as explained in item 8 under Other Income and Los-
ses Included in Net Earnings From Self-Employment, earlier).
2. Fees received for services performed as a notary public.
If you had no other income subject to SE tax, enter “Ex-
empt—Notary” on Schedule 2 (Form 1040), line 4. Don’t 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
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
didn’t perform services for it during the year.
4. Income from real estate rentals if you didn’t receive the
income in the course of a trade or business as a real estate deal-
er. Report this income on Schedule E.
5. Income from farm rentals (including rentals paid in crop
shares) if, as landlord, you didn’t materially participate in the
production or management of the production of farm products
on the land. See 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 QJV.
6. Payments you receive from the CRP 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, or other evidence of indebtedness issued with interest
coupons or in registered form by any corporation (including
those issued by a government or its political subdivision), if
you didn’t receive the income in the course of your trade or
business as a dealer in stocks or securities.
8. Gain or loss from:
a. The sale or exchange of a capital asset;
b. The sale, exchange, involuntary conversion, or other dis-
position of property unless the property is stock in trade or oth-
er property that would be includible in inventory, or held pri-
marily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of the busi-
ness; or
c. Certain transactions in timber, coal, or domestic iron
ore.
9. Net operating losses from other years.
10.
Termination payments you received as a former insur-
ance salesperson if all of the following conditions are met.
a. The payment was received from an insurance company
because of services you performed as an insurance salesperson
for the company.
b. The payment was received after termination of your
agreement to perform services for the company.
c. You didn’t perform any services for the company after
termination and before the end of the year in which you re-
ceived the payment.
d. You entered into a covenant not to compete against the
company for at least a 1-year period beginning on the date of
termination.
e. The amount of the payment depended primarily on poli-
cies 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.
SE-5
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f. The amount of the payment didn’t depend to any extent
on length of service or overall earnings from services per-
formed for the company (regardless of whether eligibility for
the payment depended on length of service).
Statutory Employee Income
If you were a statutory employee, don’t include the net profit or
(loss) from Schedule C, line 31, on Schedule SE, line 2. But be
sure to include on line 8a statutory employee social security
wages and tips from Form W-2.
Instructions for Part II
Optional Methods
How the Optional Methods Can Help You
Social security coverage. 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-employ-
ment.
Credits affected by earned income. Using the optional meth-
ods may qualify you to claim the earned income credit (EIC),
additional child tax credit (ACTC), or child and dependent care
credit or give you a larger credit if your net earnings from
self-employment (determined without using the optional meth-
ods) are less than $6,560. Figure the EIC, ACTC, and child and
dependent care credit with and without using the optional
methods to see if the optional methods will benefit you.
Self-employed health insurance deduction. The optional
methods of computing net earnings from self-employment may
be used to figure your self-employed health insurance deduc-
tion.
Other items affected by adjusted gross income (AGI). Us-
ing the optional methods may decrease your AGI, which may
affect your eligibility for credits, deductions, or other items that
are subject to an AGI limit. Figure your AGI with and without
using the optional methods to see if the optional methods will
benefit you.
Using the optional methods as described above may
be beneficial, but they may also increase your SE tax.
Changing Your Method
You can change the method used to figure your net earnings
from self-employment 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 1040-X.
Farm Optional Method
You may use this method to figure your net earnings from farm
self-employment if your gross farm income was $9,840 or less
or your net farm profits were less than $7,103. Net farm profits
are:
•
The total of the amounts from Schedule F (Form 1040),
line 34, and box 14, code A, of Schedule K-1 (Form 1065), mi-
nus
CAUTION
!
•
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 meth-
od.
Under this method, report in Part II, line 15, two-thirds of
your gross farm income, up to $6,560, 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 pay-
ments, 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 partner-
ship. If you were a limited partner, include only guaranteed
payments for services you actually rendered to or on behalf of
the partnership.
Nonfarm Optional Method
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 $7,103 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; and
•
Box 14, code A, of Schedule K-1 (Form 1065) (from oth-
er than farm partnerships).
To use this method, you must also be regularly self-em-
ployed. You meet this requirement if your actual net earnings
from self-employment were $400 or more in 2 of the 3 years
before 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.
You can use the nonfarm optional method to figure your
earnings from self-employment for only 5 years. The 5 years
don’t 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 can’t report less than your actual net
earnings from nonfarm self-employment.
Figure your share of gross income from a nonfarm partner-
ship in the same manner as a farm partnership. See Farm Op-
tional Method, earlier, for details.
Using Both Optional Methods
If you can use both methods, you can report less than your total
actual net earnings from farm and nonfarm self-employment,
but you can’t report less than your actual net earnings from
nonfarm self-employment alone.
If you use both methods to figure net earnings, you can’t re-
port more than $6,560 of net earnings from self-employment.
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