Federal Income Tax implications of Amazon Mechanical Turk

What are the federal tax implications of any money received through Amazon Mechanical Turk? Is this money categorized as income? What are the necessary rules for payment regarding social security and medicare? Their website's FAQ provides the following less than helpful advice.

Please refer to the IRS website or consult your tax professional.

I say less than helpful, because the IRS is a treasure trove of lengthy pdfs and many users will not have their own tax professional to consult. Does Amazon Mechanical Turk provide some kind of year end statement totaling the amount paid?

1 Answer 1

In theory, one should receive a 1099 from any vendor who paid you $600 during the prior year, and Amazon should do so. In reality, I had a few thousand dollars that Paypal did not 1099, but of course it appears on my return.

The short answer, yes that income is taxable. Not their job to spell it out.

Do you know if there would be any additional implications based upon social security and medicare? Do you know what type of 1099 it would fall under?

It's going to be either paycheck income or miscellaneous income. Either way, it's your responsibility to report it on your taxes, whether they send you paper or not.