One of the unexpected benefits of side hustling is that it helps you gain a better understanding of how your taxes work. It’s sometimes hard to understand what’s happening with your income when you’re only making money from your day job. Since your employer handles your taxes for you, all of the tax stuff just sort of happens in the background.
In contrast, when you’re side hustling and earning income on your own, you’re the one that’s responsible for understanding and paying your own taxes. It’s not happening in the background – it’s happening right in front of you. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll probably be surprised at just how expensive earning a side hustle income can be.
That’s because side hustle income has a lot of inherent disadvantages when it comes to taxes. First, since it’s money that you might otherwise not have earned, it’s fair to say that any side hustle income you earn will be taxed at your highest marginal tax rate. If you’re already a high-income professional, this can be problematic since it means you’ll be paying a large portion of your side hustle income to federal and state governments.
Second, in addition to paying federal and state income tax, when you’re side hustling, you’ll likely be earning your extra income in the form of 1099 income, which means that you’ll also be responsible for paying 15.3% of your side hustle income towards self-employment taxes. These are the taxes used to pay for social security and Medicare. As an employee, you only pay 7.65% of your income towards these taxes – your employer covers the other half. But when you’re working for yourself, you have to pay the whole thing.
When you add all of these taxes up, it’s not crazy to think that some people will pay 50% or more of their side hustle income in taxes. With such a high amount going out the door, it’s easy to come to the conclusion that a high-income earner probably shouldn’t waste their time doing side hustles – especially not ones like these simple side hustles that I do in my spare time.
The interesting thing though is that, when you look a little closer, high-income earners are actually in the perfect position to do a little gig work on the side.
Social Security Taxes Are Capped For High-Income Earners
The thing that really hurts with earning side hustle income is having to pay 15.3% of your earnings towards self-employment taxes (these are the taxes that cover social security and Medicare). SE taxes are largely unavoidable. Even putting money into tax-deferred retirement accounts doesn’t get you around them.
In your day job, the sting is a little less since you only pay half of the 15.3% – your employer covers the other 7.65%. In a normal employment setting, 6.2% of your income goes to social security and 1.45% of your income goes to Medicare. When you’re self-employed, you’ll pay double that: 12.4% of your earnings go to social security and 2.9% goes towards Medicare. This is a significant bite for a lot of people that can make side hustling seem unworthwhile.
The interesting thing about social security taxes, however, is that it’s capped. Once you’ve paid a certain amount of social security taxes in a year, you no longer have to pay social security taxes on any other income you earn that year. In 2018, once you make over $128,400 (or have paid $7,960.80 towards social security), any income that you earn over that amount is no longer assessed any social security taxes.
In other words, if you have a day job that earns you more than $128,400 in a year, you have a big advantage when it comes to earning side hustle income. Instead of paying 15.3% of your side hustle income in self-employment taxes, you’ll only pay 2.9% (the amount that covers Medicare taxes). That’s a huge difference that’s worth taking advantage of.
Reduce Your Tax Liability Further With Self-Employed Retirement Plans
Obviously, the next problem for the high-income side earner is the high marginal tax rate that you’ll pay on your side hustle income. Thankfully, we can take advantage of self-employed retirement plans like the Solo 401k to further reduce our tax liability.
If you’re a high-income earner, you’ll probably be maxing out your work retirement plan, which means that you’ll only be able to make an employer contribution. That’s not as good as being able to save all of our side hustle income, but it’s better than nothing. There’s a fairly complicated formula to figure out how much you can contribute, but in general, it’ll come out to around 20% of your earnings. Feel free to read this post if you’re trying to figure out how much you can contribute to your self-employed retirement plan.
By deferring as much of our side hustle income as we can into self-employed retirement plans, we’ve just earned all of this extra money, while only paying 2.9% in taxes on that income. That’s pretty unbeatable. And as a bonus, we’ve now created an extra retirement account for ourselves. While most people will only have a 401k, a Roth IRA, and maybe an HSA, you’ll now have four types of tax-advantaged retirement accounts working for you.
The benefits of this can be huge in the long run. Someone that is able to put away just $2,000 per year in a Solo 401k would have over $200,000 over the course of 30 years. Even someone that puts away $2,000 per year for 10 years, then added nothing more, would end up with $100,000 in their Solo 401k after another 20 years. That’s enough to have a portfolio generating you a small side hustle income, forever. Go ahead and take a fancy trip every year with your side hustle investments.
(Note: If you’re wondering how to set up a Solo 401k, be sure to check out this post where I walk through the process of how I set up my Solo 401k).
The More You Make, The Better It Is To Side Hustle
Common wisdom would tell you that earning extra money on the side isn’t as worthwhile if you’re already bringing in a significant income from your day job. When you consider all of the taxes you’re supposed to pay on that side income, it makes earning that extra income much less appealing.
But with the way taxes work, high-income earners (i.e. anyone earning over $128,400 in a year, as of 2018), have a huge incentive to earn a little extra money on their own terms. The government is incentivizing you to earn that extra income by making you pay less in taxes and giving you a bonus retirement account to put that money into. The great thing is, in today’s world, it’s pretty easy to figure out a way to make some extra money on the side. So go and take advantage of it.
More Recommended Ebike/Scooters
Check out these other ebikes/scooters I've had the chance to do a review for:
- GEN3 Outcross Bike – The GEN3 Outcross is a solid, affordable fat tire ebike that does a good job of doing what I need it to do. It works great for city riding, giving me a smooth ride in all conditions. It’s works really well as a winter ebike since the fat tires give it good traction over snow and ice. Check out my GEN3 Outcross Review.
- Himiway Escape Bike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
- Espin Sport Bike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
- Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
- Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.
More Recommended Investing App Bonuses
For additional investing app bonuses, be sure to check out the ones below:
- M1 Finance ($50) – This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $50 for opening an account. Check out my M1 Finance Referral Bonus – Step-By-Step Guide.
- SoFi Invest ($25) – SoFi Invest is an easy brokerage account bonus that you can earn with just a few minutes of work. Use my SoFi Invest referral link, fund your SoFi Invest brokerage account with $100 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
- Moomoo (5 free stocks) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 5 free stocks (usually worth around $75-$100) if you open an account using a referral link and deposit $2,000. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
- Webull (5 free stocks) – Webull also gives you 5 free stock valued between $3-$3,000 each if you open an account using my referral link. Here’s a guide I wrote about how to earn your free stocks using Webull.
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More Recommended Bank Account Bonuses
If you’re looking for more easy bank bonuses, check out the below options. These bonuses are all easy to earn and have no fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about.
- Chime ($100) - Chime is a free bank account that offers a referral bonus if you use a referral link and complete a direct deposit of $200 or more. In practice, any ACH transfer into this account triggers the bonus. This bonus is easy to earn and posts instantly, so you’ll know if you met the requirements as soon as you move money into the account. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Chime referral bonus that I recommend you check out.
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- Fairwinds Credit Union ($100) – Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a referral bonus for users that sign up using a referral link. Fairwinds has no fees or minimum balance, so this is a particularly easy bonus to earn. Since this is a smaller credit union, my gut instinct tells me this offer won’t be around long, so if you’re in a position to meet the bonus requirements, grab this bonus before it’s gone. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Fairwinds Credit Union bonus.
- Albert ($150) – If you can manage to do a real direct deposit, Albert is an easy account you can use to earn a referral bonus. Here’s a review about Albert I wrote. And here’s a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Albert referral bonus.
- Fifth Third Bank ($350) – Fifth Third Bank is currently offering new customers a $350 signup bonus after opening a new account and meeting certain requirements. This offer is limited to customers in the following states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia, and South Carolina. If you live or visit one of these states, make sure to take advantage of this high bonus. Check out my post on Fifth Third Bank to learn more.
- Varo ($50) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $50 bonus to new users that open a new Varo account with a referral link. The bonus for this bank is very easy to meet, all you need to do is spend $20 within 30 days of opening your Varo account. Check out my step-by-step guide to learn how to earn this bonus.
- One Finance ($50) – One Finance is a fintech bank that’s currently offering a $50 signup bonus if you open an account using a One Finance referral link and have a direct deposit of $250 or more. This is a completely free bank account with no minimum balance requirement, so if you can meet the requirements, it’s worth doing. Check out my One Finance referral bonus guide here.
- Netspend ($20 + 5% Interest Savings Account) – Netspend is a company that provides 5% interest savings accounts. If you sign up using my referral link, you’ll get a $20 signup bonus once you make your first deposit into your Netspend account of $40 or more. That means you get a 5% interest savings account and a free $20 to start! Make sure to check out my in-depth guide on how to set up these accounts.
Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.
Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.
Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:
- Personal Capital. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.
- SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link.
- Brex. Brex is a free business cash management account that is currently offering new users a $250 Amazon gift card if you sign up using a referral link and meet certain requirements.
- M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $50 for opening an account.
- Albert. A great free app I use to track my finances and save more money. You can also earn a $150 signup bonus if you open a free Albert cash account.
Feel free to send Kevin a message here.
I have learned a ton doing taxes for my side hustles. I feel as if doing the taxes themselves are part of the side hustle, and while I don’t get paid for filing my taxes, I do get the same rush as doing side hustles. I’m even considering doing taxes for others as a side hustle, or maybe volunteering somewhere to help people file their taxes. Not until next year, though.
It’s a nice thing to learn how to do – definitely a good advantage of side hustling on your own.
This is really interesting, as I’m in the UK as it is not actually that worthwhile for me personally to side hustle – I already max out tax advantage savings, and any additional income would be taxed at 40%.
Oof – I’m not familiar with the tax-advantaged accounts in the UK.It’s not like the US where you can shelter some of it in self-employed retirement plans?
Great point about already hitting that cap! I’ve been doing the Solo 401k thing, too. If you don’t need the side job money, it’s such a nice way to sock away money and pretend you never earned it. Especially if your employer doesn’t do a 401k, or doesn’t have a way for you to max out your contributions. 🙂
When I first thought about the taxes, it seemed like it would suck to side hustle if you’re a high-income earner. But when you consider that you could be in a situation where you pay only 2.9% in taxes, then defer the rest in a Solo 401k, it seems like a great move to help get a little more saved.
Great post! Before I started side hustling, I wondered whether this was even worth my time since I’m a high-income earner. Now, I have much more incentive to keeping earning and putting it away in my Solo 401(k)!
Great post! As this is my first year as an attending physician, it was the first time I finally went over the social security and medicare tax. Was great seeing my paycheck go up for the remaining four months of the year.
Starting my side gigs (making a website, expert witness work, an invention) has also been great. I won’t have to fill out a 1099 until next year because all of the income from these side gigs started this month.
Thanks for the post! Good food for thought.
You just sort of summed it up nicely how easy it is for the rich to get richer. 🙂
Good stuff, Kevin. I’m taking advantage of the system myself. My blogging pitance and Airbnb experiment are bound to be taxed much less as I’ll hit the caps with my day job each fall.
I’ve never thought about side hustles as being even more beneficial when you’ve got a high paying regular job. This is great!
I recently learned about the solo 401-k when some freelance opportunities presented themselves. We’re keeping our MAGI low for 2018 to take advantage of the ACA subsidies. The I learned how easy it would be to pour freelance earnings into a solo, which is a huge benefit.
Wow, I consider myself an amateur tax nerd and hadn’t considered either the social security cap or the Solo 401k benefits. It’s so true that working a side hustle puts you more in touch with your tax situation. As a college student, I wrote a few publisher press releases for a couple hundred bucks a pop (great money back in the 90s). And then, upon doing my taxes, I was aghast to see how much of it went to self-employment tax. But I haven’t had a side hustle since making more than the social security cap, so I learned a lot from this post.
You’re in a perfect situation to take advantage of side hustles! Might as well create yourself an extra retirement account, especially since you’re probably already maxing out all of the others!
This was a great read and real informative! I was hoping you could do a post regarding taxes on side hustle jobs and you did—the solo 401k is the solution —from getting a bit cut from the hardworking money that is earned for high-paying individuals.
Hey financial panther! Fellow lawyer and big fan here. I’ve upped my side hustle game with some UpWork gigs (not law related) and Postmates. Because of you I got in to Job Spotter and it’s been a fun game!
How will you be doing your taxes this year? Does Postmates and your other sidehustles send you 1099s? Do you count your Job Spotter income (gift cards) as reportable, taxable income? And if I made only about $50-60 on a side gig, must I go through the trouble of reporting it (I know the honest answer to this but I want to get your take on it), and if so, must I prepare my own tax forms on this income if I don’t get a 1099 from UpWork/Postmates/etc?
Awesome! Glad to see another lawyer interested in this stuff!
So you know the honest answer, so we can leave it at that, haha. Technically, any income you earn is taxable, and of course, if you get a 1099, you better report that. Gift cards from Amazon pretty much create no record to the IRS, so you can take that for what it means.
If you don’t get a 1099, you’re technically supposed to fill out a Schedule C anyway, and essentially self-report it. I do report all of my delivery earnings, even when I don’t get a 1099. A few bucks you can probably ignore, but my thought it, once you make a few hundred bucks, probably just report it. One benefit of reporting it is that you can then put some of it away in a Solo 401k – the side hustler’s bonus retirement account!
I’ve never had a side hustle before due to work visa restrictions. Once those were lifted, I’ve picked up random small jobs for professors in my department, grading or doing coding work. I may end up being a site manager in the spring tax season, depending on how life goes. I’m really excited for that possibility as I’ve quite enjoyed volunteering doing tax preparation!
As a new sr. citizen with a truly pathetic pension I have started to think about side-hustling. to save for my future needs. However I am confused as to what I can do regarding the Solo IRA. My husband still makes a very substantial income.
can I claim my side hustle on both sides since we already make more than the top bracket for social security etc.
Any other ideas for sr. Citizens side hustles etc.?
Thanks
Hey Nikkie, I’m not sure what you mean about claiming your side hustle from both sides.
Sr citizens can really take advantage of side hustling using sharing economy and gig economy apps. Airbnb if you’re comfortable with it. Rover for dogsitting. You can walk dogs on Wag and get some exercise. If you’re feeling like staying in shape, you could deliver food on a bike with Postmates, Doordash, Uber Eats, and the like. Charging up scooters with Bird and Lime is another thing sr citizens can easily do.
Remember, under the 4% rule, every $1,000 you earn in a year is $25,000 less you need in your nest-egg. So if you figure out how to make just a mere $5,000 per year, that’s $125,000 less you need saved to support your life.