Random Thoughts

The Sandbox General
1104

I sometimes umpire youth baseball or softball. Today before a pair of games, I was talking with a parent I know and he was asking about the pay for the games. He said “and I heard that the money is all tax free!”

I had to explain to the man that while there are no funds withheld for state, federal, or SS taxes, it is the burden of each recipient to accurately report their income to the IRS. Esp since someone who does more than 10 games or so for the same org will get a 1099 and failing to report in that situation sounds like a terrible idea.

For the young people I know who do this for work, they will likely stay below income thresholds where they would owe any taxes, so they can likely skate (and not report the SS portion). But for adults who def pay taxes…

I am not sure he followed what I was saying. I wonder if he thinks I am somehow an IRS audit agent for saying all that. It was weird.

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1105

Fun fact! The filing requirements spell out that you must file if you have at least $400 of self-employment income.

That $400 is after deducting expenses, such as mileage, from your income. And a reasonable portion of your internet/phone charges if you’re using those in your “business” of officiating youth sports… which you almost have to be as they are communicating which games you are officiating somehow.

So a young person’s top line could be well in excess of >$400 and they still wouldn’t have to file.

And the organization is required to file a 1099-NEC if they pay over $600 to any individual.

The $400 threshold presumably exists because you are not required to pay self-employment tax on self-employment income below $400. (That’s true whether your total income is $350 or actuary money or higher.)

However the italicized $400 is after multiplying your self-employment income by 0.9235 to net out the employer-paid portion.

So you don’t actually owe SE tax until you have $434 of bottom-line SE income.

If your bottom-line SE income is $434 or more then your SE tax is 15.3% of 92.35% of your SE income… with adjustments for total income going over the Social Security cap and/or Additional Medicare cap.

If your bottom-line SE income is $433 or less your SE tax is $0.

This has some strange implications.

Ignoring folks in SS cap / Additional Medicare territory for a second, if your bottom-line SE income is $434 then your SE tax is $61.

But if your bottom line SE income is $433 then your SE tax is $0. An extra $1 of income results in an extra $61 of SE tax (plus regular federal/state/local income tax on top).

Also, if your total income is low enough that you wouldn’t hit any non-SE-related filing thresholds and your bottom-line SE income is $401 - $433 then your total tax is $0 but you must file anyway.

I assume that whomever set the $400 filing threshold was too dumb to realize that SE tax doesn’t actually kick in until you hit $434 of SE income.

This dumb stuff comes up at VITA periodically. I always feel bad if I prepare a Schedule C with a bottom line of $434 - $500 or so.

1106

Oh, and to your point, I’m sure a lot of people are failing to report their officiating income if they’re not getting 1099’d on it.

But honestly, after you subtract out mileage and even a modest assumption for phone or internet fees… the officiating income is always awfully dang close to $0 anyway. Negative is not unusual.

1107

This is how I do blueberries in pancakes too.

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1108

your head has a thin… candy… shell.

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1109

I highly doubt a $0 income on officiating. Most of the youth softball tournaments in my area pay $45 per game. I umpire a youth league and make $40 a game. For a typical tournament, I’ll work 6-10 games. I do two games a week in league for eight weeks. I work four or so tournaments a year. That averages out to about $2000 per year. With one exception, everything is done in cash and the organizations don’t track who the umpires are or issue a 1099. High school is a little different in that they pay $65 a game and they do track the umpires and will provide a 1099 if the umpire is paid over a certain amount. I know umpires who are very careful about how many games they pick up from what schools, particularly if they officiate multiple sports.

The one exception is the organization I umpire league for. They started using Venmo this year so they pay my league games and the tournament I worked for them via that instead. I’ll have to claim that as income this year so I’m hoping they send me a 1099 because I really didn’t keep track of how much I earned.

1110

Well they are required to issue a 1099 if they pay you $600. Non-compliance is always a possibility, but they are supposed to.

I suspect the ones around me don’t pay as much and might involve more driving. And again, phone & internet deductions. Oh, and there’s the uniform and supplies that you have to buy the first year too.

I suppose there’s a possibility that someone is reporting only part of the income and all of the expenses.

1111

I make sure to bring up vasectomies when I try to give examples.

Office Visit
Lab work
Vasectomies
and foot massages

1112

I probably have <10 degrees of separation to Weird Al Yankovic.

1113

A couple of recent audiobooks have said gif with a hard G (like gift) instead of a soft G like the peanut butter so now I’m no longer conflicted whether to pronounce it how it’s “supposed to” because pretty much everyone says it with a hard G.

1114

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1115

the “pretty much everyone” camp is right. Those people who say “jif” are morans.

1116

I thought I read that the guy who created it says jif like the peanut butter, but yeah, practically everyone else says gif like gift without the t.

1117

Yeah, I tried to go with what the creator said but my brain and pretty much everyone else’s says different.

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1118

I’ve read/heard that as well. It’s a shame that the inventor is wrong.

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1119

I think I finally might have won the battle against the fruit flies.

4 Likes
1120

I finished off the last of the spanish rice today at lunch, so spouse kindly made some more in the instant pot. That’s not the random thought…

I don’t know why we can’t figure out how to make the right amount of beans to go with rice or vice versa. One is always older than the other, or in the rare event that we’ve tossed both sets because I didn’t finish them before they went bad, the proportions are still wrong and one will outlast the other. We’ll have to make black beans this weekend. I haven’t finished the last set, but they’re about 2 days from being old enough that I won’t want to eat them and there’s too much for me to eat in two days. Except for rare occasions where the kids turn them into nachos, I’m the only person in the house who eats the rice and beans, but we always have them because it’s just about the only meal I will fix (reheat) for myself, and my spouse gets tired of (mad at) me not eating otherwise.

1121

(it’s jiff)

1122

The jif/gif discussion was on one of the early Ted Lasso episodes. Maybe even the first.

1123

Reminded me of this:

xkcd: Delicious

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