SECA Tax on Miscellaneous Income

If you are the executor or administrator of a deceased person's estate, your fees are exempt from Self-Employment Contributions Act (SECA) tax and are simply reported as miscellaneous income on Line 21 of your Form 1040.

An exception to this rule applies if you are a professional fiduciary, or the estate includes an active trade or business that you participate in and your fees are related to operating the business, or your administrative duties are so extensive over a long period of time that they should be considered a trade or business. In any of these cases, you'd need to file a Schedule C to report the income and, in turn, a Schedule SE to report self-employment income.

Since statutory employees already have FICA tax withheld from their payments, they do not have to pay SECA tax.

Fees received as a notary public are not subject to SECA tax.

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