Taxes

Every Storyhunter freelancer, regardless of location, can use the Reports tab to download all earnings receipts from 2022 for your own reporting purposes. We highly recommend consulting a tax advisor if you have any questions about how to properly declare earnings in your jurisdiction. 

This content below, meanwhile, applies specifically to U.S. persons. If you are not a U.S. person, you are responsible for complying with the rules and regulations in your own jurisdiction. We recommend that you consult with a trusted tax expert or advisor. Storyhunter cannot provide tax advice.

If you are a freelancer whom the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) defines as a “U.S. Person” and earn money working with your client through Storyhunter, you need to report this income on your tax return.

In 2021 Storyhunter started issuing 1099-Ks instead of 1099s. As the paying agent for work you do through the Storyhunter platform we issue 1099-Ks as a record of payments, not earnings. In accounting terms, this is a “gross” total rather than “net.” It includes all payments you received including funds you may have then paid to Storyhunter as fees or to your clients as refunds rather than withdrawing. Because the 1099-K is a record of payments only, what you report as income/earnings to the IRS may differ from the amount on this form.

For the work you did in 2022, you will not receive any type of 1099 form from Storyhunter, unless the following was true:

You are a U.S. Persons and receive over $20,000 with more than 200 transactions through Storyhunter. In that case you will receive a form called the Form 1099-K (not to be confused with the more common 1099-MISC). Under the Internal Revenue Code Section 6050W, Storyhunter will file a Form 1099-K form with the IRS for you, and you will receive a copy of your Form 1099-K via U.S. Postal Service by January 31. Remember that only those who have received over $20,000 in gross payments across more than 200 incoming transactions will receive a 1099-K. If you don’t meet the minimum payment threshold AND transaction count, you will not receive any type of 1099 form. For example, If you:

• Earned $25,000 as 25 payments of $1,000 each? No 1099-K would be sent
• Earned $2,500 as 250 payments of $10 each? No 1099-K would be sent
• Earned $25,000 as 250 payments of $100 each? U.S. persons would receive a 1099-K

A 1099-K is a record of payments, not earnings. In accounting terms, this is a “gross” total rather than “net.” As such, it includes all payments to the freelancer on all contracts. This includes funds you may have then paid to Storyhunter as fees or to your clients as refunds rather than withdrawing. For example, if you:

• Received $25,000, but refunded $500, $6,000, or even all $25,000? It doesn’t matter. We have to use the total before fees and refunds
• Received $100 from a new client for a contract, the full $100 would count towards the 1099-K total (not the $90 in earnings left after you paid $10 to Storyhunter in service fees). That means if you had $100 contracts with 250 different clients, you’d have $25,000 in payments on your 1099-K

Even if you do not meet this threshold, you can still use the Reports tab to download receipts for the year's earnings.

Starting next year, the rules will change again and you will receive a 1099-K if you receive at least $600 in payments from clients on Storyhunter in 2023. If you reach this amount, you will  receive a 1099-K from Storyhunter by the end of January 2024. This will be for 2023 payments only and does not impact your tax return for 2022.

Once again, this article does not address all the tax issues for freelancers and it cannot and should not be relied upon as legal or tax advice.  Readers are strongly encouraged to seek tax advice based on their particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor.

TIP:

The service fees you pay to Storyhunter may be tax deductible business expenses and refunds may not be considered “earnings” for tax purposes.