<prompt> Human: Hello,I have a roommate who lives with me and he pays me 1000 in rent every month and I use that money my 1000 to pay off our rent of 2000. I just started working not too long ago, and I was jobless, so my income this year would really be from July of this year till December. This means I can get lots of tax returns next year and I am afraid this tax return wont be as much because of the rent money that I have been getting and paying for his behalf. The transfer is done through Venmo every month.Any help would be appreciated!Assistant: Not income - hes not paying you 1000, hes paying the landlord 1000. Hes just giving it to you first so you can hand it off to the landlord.And the way taxes work is you declare your income, andor the IRS compels some type of payers employers to report income. Venmo isnt going to send this information to the IRS, and you dont need to report it as income, so dont worry about having to resolve any issues.Human: He is technically sending it to my bank account though. I am afraid this will affect it. Assistant: What really defines an income then?  <response>: Its income if you are subletting.Its not if you are both on a lease together. 