Publication 225 |
2000 Tax Year |
Methods for Figuring Net Earnings
There are three ways to figure your net earnings from
self-employment.
- The regular method.
- The farm optional method.
- The nonfarm optional method.
You must use the regular method unless you are eligible to use one
or both of the optional methods. See Figure 15-1.
Figure 15-1. Can I Use the Optional Methods?
Why use the optional methods?
You may want to use the optional methods (discussed later) when you
have a loss or a small amount of net income from self-employment and
any one of the following applies.
- You want to receive credit for social security benefit
coverage.
- You incurred child or dependent care expenses for which you
could claim a credit. (An optional method will increase your earned
income, which could increase your credit.)
- You are entitled to the earned income credit. (An optional
method will increase your earned income, which could increase your
credit.)
Effects of using an optional method.
Using an optional method could increase your self-employment tax.
Paying more self-employment tax could result in your getting higher
benefits when you retire.
If you use either or both optional methods, you must figure and pay
the SE tax due under these methods even if you would have had a
smaller tax or no tax using the regular method.
The optional methods are used only to figure your SE tax. To figure
your income tax, include your actual SE income in gross income,
regardless of which method you use to determine SE tax.
Regular Method
Multiply your net SE income by 92.35% (.9235) to get your net
earnings under the regular method. See Short Schedule SE,
line 4, or Long Schedule SE, line 4a.
Farm Optional Method
As a farmer who is either a sole proprietor or a partner in a
farming business, you may be able to use the farm optional method to
figure your net earnings from farm self-employment. This method allows
you to continue paying SE tax for your social security coverage when
your net profit for the year is small or you have a loss.
Optional earnings less than actual earnings.
If your net earnings under the farm optional method are less than
your actual net earnings, you can still use the farm optional method.
Your actual net earnings are your net earnings figured using the
regular method explained, earlier.
Example.
Your actual net earnings from self-employment are $425 and your net
earnings figured under the farm optional method are $390. You owe no
SE tax if you use the optional method, because your net earnings under
the farm optional method are below $400.
Table 15-1. Figuring Farm Net Earnings
Social security credits.
Since two-thirds of $2,400 is $1,600, this counts for two credits
($1,600 x $780) for social security coverage in 2000. You
cannot use the full amount of your gross income to determine credits
when you are figuring the SE tax on only two-thirds of that amount.
Gross income from farming.
Farming income includes what you receive from cultivating the soil
or raising or harvesting any agricultural commodities. It also
includes income from the operation of a livestock, dairy, poultry,
bee, fish, fruit, or truck farm, or plantation, ranch, nursery,
orchard, or oyster bed. This includes income you receive in the form
of crop shares if you materially participate in production or
management of production of the crop.
Your gross income from farming does not include any item listed
earlier under Income not included in net earnings from
self-employment.
Government commodity program payments.
If you receive government commodity program payments on land you
rent out, do not include these payments unless you meet one of the
four material participation tests, explained earlier. Also, do not
include any income from a nonfarm business.
Gross income from a farm sole proprietorship.
If you operate your farm as a sole proprietorship, use the
following table to determine your gross farm income.
Table 15-2. Gross Farm Sole Proprietorship Income
Gross income from a farm partnership.
Your gross income under the farm optional method includes your
distributive share of a partnership's gross income from farming.
To determine your distributive share of gross income from a farm
partnership, the partnership does the following.
Table 15-3. Gross Farm Partnership Income
The result determined in (3) is your distributive share of the
partnership's gross income from farming.
Net earnings from self-employment.
Use the total of your guaranteed payments, your distributive share
of gross income from a farm partnership, and any other gross income
you receive from farming to determine whether you can use the farm
optional method to figure your net earnings from self-employment.
Guaranteed payments from a farm partnership are gross income from
your farming, not the partnership's.
Example.
Bill and John are partners and share in ordinary income or loss on
a 50-50 basis, with no guaranteed payments. If the partnership
has $3,000 gross income from farming, each would have $1,500 gross
income for purposes of the optional method.
If Bill had been guaranteed $1,000 without regard to partnership
income, his gross income from farming would be $2,000 ($1,000 + (50%
x $2,000)). John's gross income would be $1,000.
Two or more farms.
If you run your own farm and are also a partner in a farm
partnership, or in any way have gross farm income from more than one
farm, you must add your farm income from all farming sources to get
your total net earnings from farm self-employment. If you use the farm
optional method, you must add all gross income from farming to make
the $2,400 test.
Example.
Your gross income from your own farm is $600 and your distributive
share of the gross income from a farm partnership is $900. Since your
gross income from farming is less than $2,400 ($1,500), your net
earnings from self-employment under the farm optional method are
$1,000 ( 2/3 x $1,500).
Nonfarm
Optional Method
This is an optional method available for determining net earnings
from nonfarm self-employment much like the farm optional method.
If you are also engaged in a nonfarm business, you may be able to
use this method to compute your net earnings from self-employment from
your nonfarm business. You can use this method even if you do not use
the farm optional method for determining your net earnings from your
farm self-employment and even if you have a net loss from your nonfarm
business. For more information about the nonfarm optional method, see
Publication 533.
You cannot combine farming income with nonfarm income from
self-employment to figure your net earnings under either of the
optional methods.
Using Both Optional Methods
If you use both optional methods, you must add together the net
earnings figured under each method to arrive at your total net
earnings from self-employment. You can report less than your total
actual net earnings from farm and nonfarm self-employment. If you use
both optional methods, you cannot report more than $1,600 of your
combined net earnings from self-employment.
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