If you drive, deliver, sell, or freelance through an app and haven't gotten a 1099-K, here's why that doesn't mean the IRS thinks you earned nothing this year.
If this is your first year earning money through a platform — rideshare, delivery, freelance marketplaces, Etsy, whatever it is — you may have heard that the rules around Form 1099-K got friendlier this year. That part is true. What's easy to miss is what it doesn't mean.
Under the One, Big Beautiful Bill Act, the reporting threshold for Form 1099-K reverted back to where it stood before 2022: platforms like Uber, DoorDash, Etsy, and payment apps only have to send you a 1099-K if you were paid more than $20,000 and had more than 200 transactions in the year. That's a big jump up from the $600 threshold that had been phasing in, and the IRS confirmed this applies retroactively, covering 2025 and continuing into 2026.
Practically, that means a lot of people doing gig or platform work for the first time this year simply won't get a 1099-K at all. If your total was under $20,000, no form is coming.
No 1099-K does not mean no taxable income. The IRS has been explicit about this: you're required to report all income you earned, whether or not any platform sends you a form for it. The 1099-K threshold only controls when the IRS gets a copy of your earnings summary — it was never the rule that decides whether your income is taxable.
The number that actually matters for whether you owe self-employment tax is much lower: $400 in net earnings for the year. If you've cleared that on Schedule C, you likely owe self-employment tax regardless of what forms did or didn't show up in your inbox.
Log into whatever platform or platforms you've earned money through this year and pull your own year-to-date earnings summary — don't wait for a 1099-K to tell you what you already know you made. Add it up, and if you haven't been setting money aside for taxes, this is the moment to start, not April.
The third quarterly estimated tax payment of the year is due September 15, covering income earned June through August. If you started freelancing or gig work this year and haven't made an estimated payment yet, September 15 is the point where a lot of first-year freelancers get caught off guard — not because they hid anything, but because nobody told them the deadline existed. Getting ahead of it now, while there's still time to set money aside, is a much calmer place to be than figuring it out in the spring.
If you're not sure how much to set aside or whether you're already behind, that's exactly the kind of thing worth sorting out now rather than guessing. The Calm & Confident Tax Prep Kit walks you through building that habit from the start, or you can begin with the free Mid-Year Tax Reset to see exactly where you stand before the next deadline hits.
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