Do I have to be a business to pay people to write articles for me?

First of all, never take tax advice from someone who's not qualified. That includes random strangers who post on an anonymous Internet forum, including myself.

Your post suggests that you're from the United States, although you don't state where, so the best I can offer is the big picture from a federal perspective; you'll have to check your individual state and local tax laws. (I'm from Pennsylvania, where you'd need to file, even if you only made $30 in one year.)

Yes, you can pay people as independent contractors without forming a business. You would file a Schedule C to declare your profit or loss as a Sole Proprietor. You might want to check the laws or call the IRS, but I believe they do care, (in the sense of wanting their share), even if you're making less than $600. In fact, you may actually find it to your advantage to file, even if you're making a loss.

When you pay independent contractors $600 or more per year, you need to issue them a Form 1099-MISC, whether or not you are a business.

I'm no fan of the government, but I've found that when money changes hands, they do seem to be interested, and they do want their cut. Nothing wrong with wanting to do things inexpensively, but when it comes to tax advice, you get what you pay for. If you don't want to pay a tax advisor, at least research these basic laws yourself; see my first paragraph above.

Well you have few options, you don't need to have business. You can find people near you who are very experienced in writing, pay them with cash. You can find people on forums or freelance sites and just send them money. No one will hunt you down for that, don't worry.


Best regards,

CPA Beyond

If you want to hire anyone, you should use any freelancing market place. You can use Upwork, Elance, Freelancer, Fiverr or others site like this. In this case you can use see the terms & conditions of the site, which site you want to use. On the other hand if you want to hire personally without any site, you can pay him by Paypal, Skrill or, International CHEQUE. Thanks a lot.

Just target specific people in your niche, and reach out.

One great place to find people in your niche with expertise is though 'Twitter'

Hey Dave,

The first response (David Beroff's) was right on the money.
(I'm not sure any of the others understood the question)

In essence, a Sole Proprietorship IS a business but you don't need to file separate corporate tax returns.

It can be better (for your own accounting purposes) if you keep a separate bank account for that business, just so you don't lose track of expenses that can be deducted. Come tax time, you don't want to miss any of those!

You'll need to file one additional form with your personal tax return

SCHEDULE C (Form 1040) 2014 Profit or Loss From Business (Sole Proprietorship) Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service

Thanks for your responses everyone! Forgot to mention that I'm in Ohio. I knew about the 1099-MISC, but haven't heard of the Schedule C. I'll read in to those. Thanks for the help!