Ask HN: Taxes on App Store earnings
Hey HN-<p>I'm a software developer and have been thinking about getting some additional revenue each month by developing an iPod/iPad/iPhone application (game or util etc...) and have been looking at the number of downloads I'd need to break even, and one aspect that's still hazy to me is the tax implications.<p>I've read that the app store treats earnings as commissions, so my understanding is that I have to pay the 15.3% federal self employment tax and 4.xx% state tax on those earnings after apple takes their 30% cut.<p>1) do most folks end up paying estimated taxes on these earnings quarterly or do this wait until the end of the year?<p>2) At what level of revenue do I need to establish myself as a business (s-corp, sole proprietorship, etc..) rather than an individual?<p>3) if I change my revenue model to be ad based, it seems like a lot of the ad service providers will just send out a 1099 misc at the end of the year and deal with the taxes directly- is this "mostly" accurate?<p>I am planning on talking to a tax professional to get definitive answers here, but want to get a sense of what to expect from people that are already in this situation. Thanks for any feedback.