DictionaryIdentity and taxes

Self-employed: what it means

For the IRS, you are self-employed if you run a business as a sole proprietor or work as an independent contractor, if you are a member of a partnership that runs a business, or if you are otherwise in business for yourself, including part-time or as a gig worker. Because no employer withholds taxes for you, you generally pay estimated taxes every quarter and file a yearly return.

In Spanish it is

Trabajador por cuenta propia

Also written as: self-employed individual · independent contractor · gig worker · sole proprietor

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Verified on October 17, 2026

2 official sources

See the whole dictionary

The full explanation

Besides income tax, you pay self-employment tax, which covers Social Security and Medicare. Your profit or loss is figured by subtracting your business expenses from your business income, usually on Schedule C.

An example

Mario does yard work for several clients and bills them himself. He writes down what he charges and what he spends on gas and tools, because at the end of the year he will report his profit on Schedule C.

You will see it in…

The Forms 1099-NEC or 1099-K sent by the people who pay you
Your return, with Schedule C and Schedule SE
Form 1040-ES, to figure and pay estimated taxes

Words that go with it

You will rarely see this word alone. These are the ones that show up with it on the same papers.

More guides that use “self-employed”

Still confused by a paper?

A HUD-approved housing counselor can walk you through it. Agencies usually charge little or nothing, many work in Spanish, and they do not sell you anything.

What a housing counselor does See free help

Official sources

We sum up what these official sources say, in plain words. We add no rules they do not state; when a rule changes, the definition and its date change.

1. IRS · Self-employed individuals tax center (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026
2. IRS · Centro tributario para trabajadores por cuenta propia (external site) · in Spanish · Verified on October 17, 2026