Self-employment tax
You'll owe self-employment tax.
An extra 15.3% on top of regular income tax — that's the 'employer half' of FICA you used to never see. The biggest first-year surprise. Set aside ~30% of net 1099 income from the first dollar.
Personal tax returns · Minneapolis · Twin Cities · Remote MN
Your 1040, filed properly, by the same person every year.
Personal income tax preparation for individuals and families — based in the Twin Cities, available remotely wherever you are. W-2 wages, self-employment income, rental property, K-1s, multi-state. Whatever shape your year took, we’ll file it cleanly and stay reachable long after April.
How working together actually works
Five steps, start to finish.
You upload, we work, you review, we file. The whole thing happens from wherever you already are — the kitchen table, your phone in the carpool line, your laptop after the kids are in bed. No driving over with a folder. No fax machine. No paper to lose.
You sign and send us what we need.
We'll send you an engagement letter to sign and a short tax organizer to fill out. You'll upload your documents through our secure client portal — no printing, no scanning, no drop-offs.
We prepare your return.
Once we have everything, we get to work. We'll reach out if something's missing or if we have a question.
We send it back for your review.
You'll get a copy of the completed return to look over before anything is filed. No surprises.
You sign and pay.
When you're ready, you'll sign your e-file authorization (Form 8879) and pay the invoice. Both happen online.
We file it.
That's it. We submit everything to the IRS and any applicable state, and we'll confirm once it's accepted.
The forms behind the return
1040, 1040-SR, and the schedules that come with them.
Most personal returns boil down to one main form and a handful of schedules. Here’s what each one is for and when it shows up.
Form 1040
Most filers — under 65, any income source.
The standard return. W-2 income, 1099-NEC self-employment, Schedule C side income, Schedule E rental income, K-1 pass-through, brokerage, retirement contributions. Same form regardless of complexity.
Form 1040-SR
Filers age 65 or older.
Functionally identical to the 1040 — same calculations, same brackets — but printed in larger type with a built-in standard-deduction worksheet that already factors in the age-65 bump. Worth using if you qualify; we'll file whichever serves you better.
Schedule C
Self-employment, freelance, 1099 contractor income.
Where your side hustle or sole-proprietor business income lives. Net profit flows to your 1040 and gets hit with self-employment tax (15.3%) — which is why estimated quarterly payments often matter once side income starts adding up.
Schedule E
Rental property owners + K-1 recipients.
Rental income, depreciation on the property, repairs vs. capital improvements. Also where K-1 pass-through income from partnerships or S-corps reports. A common surprise: you can have positive cash flow on a rental and still show a paper loss after depreciation.
Multi-state filings
You worked in or earned income from more than one state.
Common scenarios: lived in MN but did remote work for a Wisconsin employer; sold a rental in another state; moved mid-year. Each state where you had nexus gets its own return. We coordinate the credits so you don't double-pay.
The line items software skips
Six deductions most people leave on the table.
These aren’t loopholes. They’re standard deductions and credits the IRS publishes — but they’re easy to skip if you don’t know to look for them.
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Mortgage interest + property taxes
If you own a home and your mortgage interest + state and local taxes (capped at $40K) + charitable giving exceed the standard deduction, itemizing wins.
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Self-employment expenses
Home office, mileage, equipment, software subscriptions, health insurance premiums (above-the-line for SE), retirement contributions to a SEP-IRA or Solo 401(k). These come off the top before SE tax — meaningful dollars.
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Retirement contributions
Traditional IRA, SEP-IRA, Solo 401(k), HSA. Most of these can be funded after year-end (up to the filing deadline) and still count for the prior tax year — useful if April rolls around and you owe more than expected.
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Education + student loan interest
Lifetime Learning Credit, American Opportunity Credit, $2,500/yr student loan interest deduction (income-phased). Easy to miss if you don't know to bring the 1098-T or 1098-E.
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Energy + EV credits
Solar, heat pump, insulation upgrades, electric vehicle purchases. The credits have changed every year since 2022 — make sure your preparer knows this year's rules.
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Childcare + dependent care
Child Tax Credit, Dependent Care FSA, Child and Dependent Care Credit. These stack with each other in specific ways; the right combination depends on your income and whether your employer offers a dependent-care FSA.
Multi-state filings
Lived or earned in more than one state? You probably owe two returns.
The most common scenarios we see: remote work for an out-of-state employer (you live in Minnesota, your W-2 is from a Wisconsin company); a mid-year move (part of the year in MN, part somewhere else); rental property in another state; or the sale of property out of state that triggered capital gains.
Each state where you had nexus gets its own return. Done right, you claim a credit on one for taxes paid to the other so you don’t double-pay. Done wrong, you either over-pay or trigger a notice from the state you skipped. We’ll coordinate both filings as one engagement.
First year as a 1099 contractor?
Four things nobody tells you until April.
Switching from W-2 to 1099 — even part-time — changes how taxes work in ways that catch most people off guard the first year. Here’s the short version so April isn’t a surprise.
Quarterly estimates
Quarterly estimated payments matter.
Once your side income starts adding up, the IRS expects quarterly payments — April, June, September, and January. Skipping them means an underpayment penalty even if you pay in full at filing.
Deductions
You can deduct expenses W-2 employees can't.
Home office (square-footage method or simplified $5/sq ft up to 300 sq ft), mileage, phone, internet, software, health insurance premiums. These come off the top before SE tax.
Retirement options
Retirement options open up.
Solo 401(k) and SEP-IRA both let you sock away far more than a regular IRA — sometimes $60K+ in a good year. We'll walk you through which one fits.
Common tax documents
What most returns involve.
You don’t need to have all of this assembled to reach out — we’ll talk through what applies to your year. But for context, here are the most common documents.
Income
- All W-2s (one per employer)
- All 1099s (NEC, MISC, INT, DIV, B, R, K)
- SSA-1099 (Social Security benefits)
- Schedule C income + expenses (if self-employed)
- Schedule E rental income + expenses (if you own rentals)
- K-1s (if you have partnership or S-corp interests)
Homeownership & Giving
- 1098 mortgage interest + property tax statement
- Charitable giving receipts (cash + non-cash)
- Vehicle registration fees (deductible in many states)
- Energy-efficient home improvement records (solar, EV chargers, insulation)
- Last year's tax return (federal + state)
Education & Health
- 1098-T tuition statement
- 1098-E student loan interest
- 1095-A (if you used the ACA marketplace for health insurance)
- Medical expense records (if potentially itemizing)
Retirement & Payments
- Retirement contributions (Traditional IRA, Solo 401(k), SEP-IRA, HSA)
- Estimated tax payments made during the year (federal + state)
How documents are shared
All documents go through our secure client portal — never email attachments. You’ll e-sign your return through the same portal once it’s ready to file.
Questions before booking
What clients ask us about personal returns.
Both, always. Federal 1040 + Minnesota state. If you have multi-state filings (e.g. lived part of the year somewhere else, or earned income from another state), we file each one and coordinate the credits so you don't double-pay.
Free guides
Helpful reading on this topic.
Free checklist
Personal tax document checklist.
Everything you need to gather before we file — W-2s, 1099s, K-1s, deductions, and the records that prove them.
Read the guideIf April slipped
Missed a tax deadline? Here's what to do.
What happens after April 15, how penalties compound, and the order to file + pay so it stops getting worse.
Read the guideHome office
Home office deduction rules.
When the home office deduction actually works for W-2 employees vs. self-employed, and what records the IRS expects.
Read the guideOften paired with
Related services on the menu.
Tax planning
Plan the year before you file it.
October sit-down to project where you'll land and make the moves that still close before December 31.
ExploreTax problems
IRS letter on the counter?
Audit notices, back taxes, garnishments, payment plans — we read the letter and put a response on paper.
ExploreLife concierge
Personal bookkeeping for the household.
Bill pay, statement reconciliation, household money rhythm — month after month. Pairs naturally with personal filing.
ExploreSame person, every year.
Ready to hand off your 1040?
Email us — we’ll reply within a day and set up a free 30-min call when it works for both of us. Simple return or unusually complicated, we’ll walk through what filing with us would actually look like.