Tricky K-1 Work Authorization Question

[NikLR 13,227]

Pretty sure OP is a her... but ya never know!

[ledingham 68]

2 hours ago, Lemonslice said:

Depending on the amount, it could be seen as a hobby. Hobby is not work. 

 

That being said, I think it's not worth the hassle for OP, and networking in his new city will bring better long term results.  

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Villanelle said:

The only trouble I see is with taxes. I don't know if the OP realizes self employed income is taxed differently and that there are various ways to claim and report it. Immigration wise it's a non issue. If they decide to consider it working w/o auth then ok...(shrug) no impact.

This seems to me that its a VERY gray area. I do it as a hobby I just happen to make ad revenue off of it. Anyone's decisions to donate to me are their choices. It is not a significant source of income as I do not have a super huge following due to the fact that I just started streaming in June of 2019 but as a following increases there can be A LOT of money to be made from streaming (you should look up some popular streamers net worths). And yes @NikLR is correct, I am a girl.

[Villanelle 4,122]

Some where along the way someone used 'he' so I just went along with it. I thought it was odd and figured you were a really good male gamer! 

 

Anyway the tax system in the US is not only extremely complicated for some things but can also be unfair in tax burdens and credits depending how your income falls. There are many loopholes and exceptions you may fall under but generally when you earn money and no taxes are withheld by the company paying you- you are responsible for not only the 'general tax' on it but for the additional Medicare/ss taxes which off the top of my head is around 20% of what ever the amount is. 

 

If it's a small amount of earnings but qualifies for tax it can actually be worse overall because your small amount turns even smaller! Also if it's more than a certain amount and you file as self employed subsequently you will then have to do quarterly  payments for the estimated tax for the next year. 

 

And I get what you're saying about it being donations rather than a charge for services rendered but the IRS doesn't see it as donations that are non taxable. There are complex regulations about non taxable charitable donations received and I assure you twitch donations don't qualify.  Twitch donations are counted by the IRS as income and not donations or gifts. If you get paid through PayPal then it gets more complicated as PayPal would report earnings over a certain amount to the IRS rather than twitch. 

 

There are several blogs/forum posts found on Google explaining the specifics of twitch and tax implications. Look into it and see how it will impact you and if it's something you want to pursue that makes sense financially. I'm not trying to discourage you from doing it. I've just seen too many people try their hand at this type of online work or trying to push affiliate links or something like that and then be shocked at tax time at the implications. You also want to make sure you do it right tax wise for the best tax benefits which means looking into whether or not you would have to be self employed or if it can fall under hobby income like in the link posted above.

[ledingham 68]

15 hours ago, Villanelle said:

Some where along the way someone used 'he' so I just went along with it. I thought it was odd and figured you were a really good male gamer!

 

If you get paid through PayPal then it gets more complicated as PayPal would report earnings over a certain amount to the IRS rather than twitch.

No I am a really good female gamer 😉

I also did not know that paypal reported that kind of stuff. So say my family wanted to send me money via paypal for whatever reason, how would uscis see that?

[Villanelle 4,122]

PayPal allows you to get and send money 2 ways. One is personal- gifts, money to friends and family etc. The other way is for goods/services. The fees and who pays them if any are calculated differently for each type. Look at the fine print on PayPal for the specifics. 

 

When PayPal sees you get money for goods/services if it's over a certain amount (I think 400$) they send you a 1099 for it as they report it to the IRS. At some point you are probably going to get a SSN and have to update your PayPal to show US address and SSN.

 

USCIS does not really get into the specifics of your finances beyond the 864 and showing proof of commingled finances. You also have to show tax returns. That's why I said this is more of a IRS issue to sort out. As the spouse of a USC any unauthorized work (if they decide to look at it that way) will not be a bar to adjustment. However you will have to show tax returns for that income. 

 

Getting money from family is generally a non issue for USCIS. I suppose depending on how much/often and why could raise questions on your ability to qualify for the 864 w/o a cosponsor. Since you do need to send them bank statements if there are repeated regular person to person transactions that stand out it might be a good idea to explain what it is in a brief statement regardless if it's money coming in or out.  Often people send a general statement of their financial situation so it could be included in that. 

[ledingham 68]

19 hours ago, Villanelle said:

PayPal allows you to get and send money 2 ways. One is personal- gifts, money to friends and family etc. The other way is for goods/services. The fees and who pays them if any are calculated differently for each type. Look at the fine print on PayPal for the specifics. 

 

When PayPal sees you get money for goods/services if it's over a certain amount (I think 400$) they send you a 1099 for it as they report it to the IRS. At some point you are probably going to get a SSN and have to update your PayPal to show US address and SSN.

 

USCIS does not really get into the specifics of your finances beyond the 864 and showing proof of commingled finances. You also have to show tax returns. That's why I said this is more of a IRS issue to sort out. As the spouse of a USC any unauthorized work (if they decide to look at it that way) will not be a bar to adjustment. However you will have to show tax returns for that income. 

 

Getting money from family is generally a non issue for USCIS. I suppose depending on how much/often and why could raise questions on your ability to qualify for the 864 w/o a cosponsor. Since you do need to send them bank statements if there are repeated regular person to person transactions that stand out it might be a good idea to explain what it is in a brief statement regardless if it's money coming in or out.  Often people send a general statement of their financial situation so it could be included in that. 

I can really only see my family sending me money as birthday and Christmas gifts as shipping can be expensive and I will not be able to travel to see them for those dates nor do I expect them to travel to see me for it either.

[Crazy Cat 41,846]

self deleted...

Edited January 23, 2020 by missileman