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Income tax calculator for
Independent Journalist in Illinois
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Self Employed Independent journalist Taxes
These SE taxes are used to pay:
- Federal Income tax
- State income tax
- Self-employment taxes
- Social security
- Medicaid/medicare
Apart from these above-mentioned taxes, freelancers and self-employed workers also have to pay for:
- Capital gains taxes: both short term and long term gains
- AMT or Alternative Minimum Taxes for those earning over $100k annually
According to the IRS, self-employed workers who earn less than $400 annually don't have to pay the Self Employment tax.
Moreover, the self-employment tax is considered a tax-deductible expense. Although the tax is charged on a taxpayer’s business profit, the IRS counts the 'employer' half of the self-employment tax, or 7.65% (calculated as half of 15.3%), as a business deduction for purposes of calculating that taxpayer's income tax.
Tax rates for Independent journalists in Illinois
The state of Illinois requires you to pay taxes if you are a resident or nonresident that receives income from an Illinois source. Illinois has a flat income tax, which means that everyone, regardless of income, is taxed at the same rate.
The income tax rate in Illinois is 4.95%, after an increase from 3.75% in 2017. Illinois also has higher-than-average sales taxes and property taxes.
The following table represents the Illinois Income Tax Brackets and Rates:
Single Filer/Married Filed Separately
Married Filing Jointly
Head of Household
Single Filer/Married Filed Separately
A single filer represents the person who is unmarried and does not qualify for any other filing status. Generally, the tax rates and brackets that apply to single filers also apply to individuals who are married but file their taxes separately.
Married Filing Jointly
Married filing jointly represents the tax filing status available to married couples who were married by Dec. 31 of the tax year. Couples who file their taxes as Married Filing Jointly, get the most tax breaks.
Head of Household
Head of Household is a filing status for single or unmarried taxpayers who keep up a home for a Qualifying Person (child, relative, boyfriend/girlfriend, or any dependent). The Head of Household filing status has some major tax advantages over the Single filing status such as a lower tax rate and a higher standard deduction.
Deductions & Credits
Personal exemption
According to the IRS, a personal exemption refers to an amount that a resident taxpayer is entitled to claim as a tax deduction against personal income in calculating taxable income and consequently federal income tax.
Freelancers in Illinois
- Illinois have a freelance population of 200,000 and have a market cap of $6.8bn in 2019
- On an average freelancers spend 25 hour a week at their work in USA. 40% works fewer than 20 hours per week and 6% work more than 50 hour per week
- In the period from 2012-2017 revenue from freelance contractors has grown to 6% and number of freelancers have grown to 10%
200,000
Freelance
population
$6.8 bn
Revenue
Income
1% of the GDP
freelancers in 2022
independent
contractor
earn $34,595
Freelance
growth
Revenue
growth
- Half (52%) of Chicago's skilled workers offer professional services, three in ten (29%) provide technical services, and one in five (19%) are in creative fields.
- Chicago, Minneapolis, and Detroit saw their technical service freelance forces shrink from 2012 to 2017, though revenues grew modestly.
Independent journalist Tax Deduction in Illinois | FlyFin
The following represents some of the top tax deductions for Independent journalists in Illinois
Research materials
You can deduct the cost of books and journals as research materials. This can also include the cost of a subscription to magazines. It’s a beneficial journalist tax break.
Phone bill
If you use a separate phone specifically for business purposes, you can deduct the entire bill. However, suppose you use your phone for both personal and business purposes. In that case, you can partially deduct the cost of your phone bill
Electronics
Any electric device such as a recorder, mic, camera, laptop, etc., is deductible. So is any other equipment you need for your business
Industry education
As a journalist, you need to keep up with the trends. Any course you take to improve your skill or learning is deductible. Moreover, you can also deduct the cost of a student loan. These expenses are considered amongst the top journalist tax deductions
Website expenses
All website-related expenses such as hosting, design, etc., are deductible. Similarly, you can also deduct the cost of marketing and advertising expenses.
Software
Any software you use for photo or video editing, scheduling emails, managing finances, etc., is deductible. Any software or app you need to conduct your business is deductible
Contractors
Hiring a cameraperson or photographer to help you with your news or story is deductible. All wages that you offer to the contractors are deductible
Legal fees
Legal and other expenses incurred in collecting trade debts from customers are generally deductible. The legal fees connected with the bankruptcy of a business are also deductible.
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