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MyFreeTaxes Self-Employed Tax Guide

For Small Business Owners

Business owner in yellow shirt and blue pants reading paperwork

Small businesses play a critical role in our economy, generating income and wealth that supports the financial needs of entrepreneurs, employees, and their families. However, the costs and stress associated with filing business-related taxes limit the positive financial impacts of self-employment for many entrepreneurs.

According to the IRS, in 2019, there were over 27.8 million sole proprietorships (also called self-employed individuals) running businesses in the United States. In a way, this isn’t surprising. To start a business as a sole proprietor, you typically just need to start doing your business. That is, there’s little or no registration needed and no incorporation forms to fill out. Sole proprietorships can include anything from a person selling crafts on Etsy to a take-out restaurant with multiple employees. They all have one thing in common- they report their business earnings (and determine their taxes) using a Schedule C form.

United Way created this guide to help more self-employed small business owners easily and accurately file their taxes for free. Designed for both full-time and part-time entrepreneurs, this guide will help you self-prepare your taxes for free using MyFreeTaxes.

This guide has two parts.

Part I: Getting Ready for Tax Season focuses on what you need to know about taxes and how to prepare for tax season.

Part II: Filing Your Return Online offers step-by-step instructions on how to use MyFreeTaxes to complete your return online.

This guide will help you take each step in your tax-filing journey. The layout is in a simple question-and-answer format based on questions frequently posed by other entrepreneurs. To answer the questions, we drew upon official U.S. Internal Revenue Service guidance as well as other nationally recognized sources.

Review the guide below in PDF and video formats below. If you have questions while preparing your return, please contact our Support team.

Review Guide as a PDF

Click here to view in full-screen mode

Review Guide Videos

Part I: Getting Ready for Tax Season

Part II: Filing Your Return Online