[puppylady]

Didn't see this asked anywhere yet so forgive if repeating! My son works as an IC for a moving company which will pay a "crew leader" who then pays his helpers. Son was a helper in 2007 so has no check stubs; can only guess at what he made but knows it is over $600. Don't even know if they did 1099s for ANYbody there. He needs to file M-filing jointly to take advantage of kid benefits they'll get. He knows there will be W/H to pay. Can he file w/o a Form 1099 and estimate what he made?

Thanks for ANY input on this!

[ebaines]

Sounds like he was treated as a contractor and should file as self-employed. He'll report his receipts and expenses on Schedule C. With no supporting documentation he will just have to make his best guess as to what the correct amounts are. He should keep notes as to how he arrived at his numbers in case the IRS sends a letter asking for clarification in a year or two.

On the other hand, if he is filing MFJ and he and his wife had less than $17,500 earned income and had minimal (or no) unearned income, they may not have to file at all. See the instructions in Pub 501 to see if he needs to file:

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf