How to state occupation?

"seaweedsl" wrote

I doubt they care. What you are supposed to put down is what your ~primary~ activity is. So for you it may be "retired" and for a college kid it might be "student" although you both may have part-time jobs or self-employment income of some nominal amounts.

An alternate would be "retired/p-t handyman"

Thanks!

Is the occupation field even required? Seems telephone number is not.

self-employment

I leave it blank and make them look at Schedule C.

There is not a penalty for not providing it. E-filing requirements may be more strict.

-Mark Bole

Efiling requirements are no more stricter than "average" reporting.

ChEAr$, Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

I don't think anybody ever looks at it unless you get audited. Some computer programs may consider it an error if the line is not filled in, but you can generally print and file or e-file the return without it anyway.

My primary occupation is "retired grandma with car," but it's too long to fit on the line .

Katie in San Diego

Is there not a single data field on any published form (the ones that can be efiled, of course) that is mandatory for efiling but optional for paper filing? Not even telephone number?

If all third party tax prep software products require certain fields before forwarding to the IRS, that would be mandatory.

-Mark Bole

I was speaking of and thinking in terms of these auxiliary type informational items. however now that I think about it, things like FICA wages on W2 forms, FICA and Medicare taxes,..... anything on a W2 form except for block 1 and 2 are not required for federal filing. On a 1099R form only blocks 1 and .. taxable payments and of course federal withholding (block 4) are required.

ChEAr$, Harlan

Back when I did put in occupations, two of my favorites were "sewer", for one who sewed (clothing) for a living, and of course "loan arranger" for a girl who worked for a mortgage lender.

Of course Columbus, GA once being a textile town, we used to have some like: fixer, doffer, sweeper, and spinner.

ChEAr$, Harlan

Well, I've established that for e-filing, one MUST have a number for the spouse ssn field. Cannot enter "NRA" though that is exactly what I was supposed to enter. TaxAct (my online software) support said I must hand write that field and mail it in.

Steve

Hi-yo, Silver! Away! (or, as the Congress of Wonders comedy act once put it, "Ohio River! Up Up and Away!").

I once put in "anteater" for occupation and never got a letter.

One can also use generic terms that are hard to argue with, like "manager", "analyst", "researcher", "occupier", and so on.

-Mark Bole

How about just - Occupation: taxpayer

Well, if you're going there, then just put "slave" and be done with it. Just don't ask for 40 acres and a mule.

When we had a nanny for Janetaxpayer 2.0, I had to fill out the paperwork as employer. For Title I used "Dad". Joe

There are several extra requirements for e-filing: PIN signatures, EI numbers for W-2 forms and 1099R forms, etc.'