Sources behind the Gig Worker Tax Center

Everything this center says rests on the documents below. Each one is listed with the body that issued it, the date we read it, and what it does not establish.

Every source on this page shows the body that issued it and the date we read it. The federal text behind this center was last read on 2026-08-16.

Federal authority that can carry a rule on its own

• 26 U.S.C. § 61 — Gross income definedUnited States Code (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Does not determine worker classification.
• Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From BusinessInternal Revenue Service. Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Speaks to the self-employed reporting path only; establishes nothing for an employee.
• 26 U.S.C. § 1401 — Rate of tax on self-employment incomeUnited States Code (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Applies to self-employment income; establishes nothing for wages paid to an employee.
• 26 U.S.C. § 1402 — Definitions (net earnings from self-employment)United States Code (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Turns on carrying on a trade or business — a facts determination, not a form determination.
• Instructions for Schedule SE (Form 1040), Self-Employment TaxInternal Revenue Service. Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Self-employed path only.
• 26 U.S.C. § 6654 — Failure by individual to pay estimated income taxUnited States Code (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Operates on total tax and payments for the year. Receipt of gig income does not by itself create a required instalment.
• Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals (with instructions)Internal Revenue Service. Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Describes a payment mechanism; does not establish that any particular reader must use it.
• 26 U.S.C. § 162 — Trade or business expensesUnited States Code (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Allowance of the deduction is separate from where and whether it may be claimed on a return; § 67(g) governs the employee route.
• 26 U.S.C. § 262 — Personal, living, and family expensesUnited States Code (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: States a prohibition; supplies no allocation method.
• 26 C.F.R. § 1.262-1 — Personal, living, and family expensesElectronic Code of Federal Regulations. Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: States the commuting rule. Contains no distance test, and no exception based on the status of a mobile application.
• 26 U.S.C. § 67 — 2-percent floor on miscellaneous itemized deductionsUnited States Code (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Governs the route by which an employee could otherwise claim unreimbursed expenses; does not repeal § 162 itself.
• Public Law 119-21, § 70110 — Termination of miscellaneous itemized deductions other than educator expensesUnited States Congress (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Concerns the employee route only. Says nothing about a trade or business carried on by the individual.
• Rev. Proc. 2019-46 — Optional standard mileage rates; rules for using optional standard mileage ratesInternal Revenue Service. Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Section 4.05 contains NO disqualification for a vehicle used to transport persons or property for pay or hire. Any such rule read into this authority would be fabricated.
• Standard mileage rates (published rates by period)Internal Revenue Service. Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Supplies a numeric rate only. Supplies no eligibility to use the method and no characterisation of any mile.
• 26 U.S.C. § 274 — Disallowance of certain entertainment, etc., expensesUnited States Code (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: A substantiation rule. Does not itself allow any deduction.
• 26 C.F.R. § 1.274-5 — Substantiation requirementsElectronic Code of Federal Regulations. Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Substantiation only. Sets no retention period for gig work specifically.
• 26 U.S.C. § 280F — Limitation on depreciation for luxury automobiles; listed propertyUnited States Code (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: The definition of a passenger automobile in this section governs THIS section. It is not a standard mileage eligibility rule.
• 26 U.S.C. § 167 — DepreciationUnited States Code (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Property used personally is outside the allowance to that extent.
• 26 U.S.C. § 168 — Accelerated cost recovery systemUnited States Code (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Interacts with § 280F for automobiles and with Rev. Proc. 2019-46 § 4.05(3) for later method choice.
• 26 U.S.C. § 179 — Election to expense certain depreciable business assetsUnited States Code (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Dollar limitations are indexed and must be carried as date-bounded values, never as timeless figures.
• 26 U.S.C. § 280A — Disallowance of certain expenses in connection with business use of homeUnited States Code (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: States a disallowance and its exceptions. Establishes no amount and no method of computation.
• Rev. Proc. 2013-13 — Optional safe harbor method for business use of a homeInternal Revenue Service. Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: A computation method only. It cannot create eligibility where § 280A(c)(1) is not satisfied.
• 26 U.S.C. § 6001 — Notice or regulations requiring records, statements, and special returnsUnited States Code (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Prescribes no universal retention period on its face.

Authority about reporting only

A reporting threshold decides when a payer has to file a form. It does not decide whether any amount is income, and it does not decide whether a return has to be filed.

• 26 U.S.C. § 6050W — Returns relating to payments made in settlement of payment card and third party network transactionsUnited States Code (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: REPORTING ONLY. Imposes a duty on the payer and says nothing about the payee's gross income.
• Public Law 119-21, § 70432 — Repeal of revision to de minimis rules for third party network transactionsUnited States Congress (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: REPORTING ONLY. Changes when a form must be filed; changes nothing about taxability.
• American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, § 9674 — Modification of exception for de minimis payments (superseded)United States Congress (GPO, govinfo). Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: SUPERSEDED by Public Law 119-21 § 70432. Retained so a stale $600 figure can be detected, never rendered.
• Instructions for Form 1099-K, Payment Card and Third Party Network TransactionsInternal Revenue Service. Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: REPORTING ONLY. The gross amount reported is not a computation of income, and not a computation of taxable income.
• Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NECInternal Revenue Service. Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: REPORTING ONLY. A filed form records a payer's characterisation; it is not a determination of the recipient's worker class.

Explanatory material that never stands alone

• Gig Economy Tax CenterInternal Revenue Service. Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Plain-language guidance. May accompany a proposition but may never carry one alone.
• Understanding your Form 1099-KInternal Revenue Service. Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Plain-language guidance; the threshold itself is grounded in § 6050W(e) as amended.
• Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car ExpensesInternal Revenue Service. Read on 2026-08-16. Does not establish: Explanatory only. Its definitions are written for particular chapters and may not be transplanted across statutory purposes.

State authority

State and local taxes are a separate layer from the federal rules. We only state what we have read in a state's own official text. Where we have not read it, we say so, because an unread rule and an absent rule are different facts.

• California Revenue and Taxation Code § 17014 — ResidentCalifornia Legislature (official Legislative Counsel text). Read for: California residence for personal income tax turns on presence for other than a temporary or transitory purpose, or on domicile. Read on 2026-08-16.
• California Revenue and Taxation Code § 17951 — Gross income of a nonresidentCalifornia Legislature (official Legislative Counsel text). Read for: A nonresident's California gross income is limited to gross income from sources within California. Read on 2026-08-16.
• California Labor Code § 2775 — Employment status; ABC testCalifornia Legislature (official Legislative Counsel text). Read for: The section states its own scope: the Labor Code, the Unemployment Insurance Code, and Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders. Read on 2026-08-16.
• Md. Code, Tax-General § 10-103 — County income taxMaryland General Assembly (official statute text). Read for: Maryland's local income tax is a county tax measured on Maryland taxable income. Read on 2026-08-16.
• RCW 82.04.220 — Business and occupation tax imposedWashington State Legislature (official RCW text). Read for: Washington imposes a tax on the act or privilege of engaging in business activities. Read on 2026-08-16.
• Publication 98-806 — Franchise Tax OverviewTexas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Read for: The Comptroller states that a sole proprietorship, other than a single-member LLC, neither files nor pays Texas franchise tax. Read on 2026-08-16.

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