Side Gig Finder

Who Takes the Tax Out of Your Side Gig Pay?

Oct 18, 2026 — Side Gig Finder team

Before you take a gig, ask one thing. Who does the gig say you are? An employee, a contractor, a volunteer, or a seller?

The answer decides who handles tax on your pay. This post sorts the gigs on this site by the answer each source gives. It is not tax advice. For your own case, ask the IRS or a tax pro.

We read the pages on October 18, 2026, unless a line says another date. We leave out every dollar amount and tax threshold. Those change. Each gig page has the details.

An employee is someone an employer hires and pays. Withholding means the employer holds back tax from each paycheck before you get it.

Poll work. The IRS counts election worker pay as wage income for income tax purposes. It says not to use Form 1099-MISC for these payments. A 1099-MISC is a tax form for contractors. Government entities must file a Form W-2 for election workers. A W-2 is the tax form for employees.

Here is the catch. This pay is not subject to income tax withholding under the Internal Revenue Code. A worker can ask for it by giving the employer a Form W-4. So you are paid as an employee, but income tax may not come out unless you ask.

Social Security and Medicare are a separate question. The IRS says the pay may be treated as wages for them. See Work the Polls on Election Day.

Substitute teaching. This one varies. A substitute teacher fills in when the regular teacher is out. One district, Fairfax County, calls new subs employees. It has them finish forms and training online. That is one district only.

The IRS also looked at one case. A firm that places substitutes asked the IRS, on Form SS-8, to decide their status. The IRS said the worker was a common law employee, not an independent contractor. It covers one case. We do not know how other districts or firms treat their subs. See Substitute Teach at Local Schools.

SCSEP. This is a Labor Department job program for older adults. The Department of Labor says participants are paid a wage. Taking part does not make you a federal employee. The grantee, the group that runs your local program, must decide if you count as an employee.

So the answer depends on your grantee. We do not know if a grantee takes tax out. Ask yours. See Work a Community Service Job With SCSEP.

Volunteer with a stipend

A stipend is a set payment to a volunteer.

AmeriCorps Seniors. The federal rules call Senior Companions volunteers, not employees. They say the same for Foster Grandparents. AmeriCorps says some Senior Companion programs offer a modest stipend to qualified, low-income volunteers. We read that page on October 10.

What about tax? One rule covers cost reimbursements and benefits for Senior Companions. It says they are “not subject to any tax or charge”. It also says they are not treated as wages for public assistance or similar benefit payments. The same goes for minimum wage laws. Foster Grandparents have the same rule.

The rule does not say if this reaches income tax. It is about reimbursements and benefits, and we cannot match that to the stipend. We found no source on how income tax treats the stipend. Do not read this as tax-free. Ask the IRS or a tax pro. See Get a Stipend With AmeriCorps Seniors.

Called an independent contractor

An independent contractor is a worker who runs their own work for pay. A company that calls you one does not treat you as an employee.

The IRS says a self-employed person has no employer withholding their taxes. Several platforms below say the worker is responsible for their own taxes. We name those that do.

These sources use the contractor label:

These sources add a word about tax:

Prolific adds that it does not issue 1099 forms directly. A 1099 is a tax form that reports what a company paid a contractor.

Mystery shopping. Here are three mystery shopping companies. ACE says shoppers are independent contractors who are responsible for their own tax records. Secret Shopper says its independent contractors are not its employees. Coyle Hospitality calls evaluators independent contractors or vendors. See Be a Mystery Shopper.

Neither employee nor contractor: Wyzant

Wyzant is the odd one. Its tutor agreement says a tutor is not an independent contractor or employee of Wyzant for any purpose. So we do not call Wyzant tutors contractors.

The same agreement is clear on tax. Wyzant says it will not withhold any amount toward income tax or payroll tax of any kind. It also makes the tutor responsible for all federal, state, and local taxes due. See Tutor Students on Wyzant.

Called a subcontractor: Rev

The page we read is Rev’s customer terms. They call the freelancers who do its human work subcontractors. That is the only word we use for them.

Rev also runs a freelancer help center. It is closed to our tool, so we make no claim about its tax wording. See Type Audio for Rev.

Seller: Mercari

Mercari is a marketplace where you list items to sell. The help center pages we read about selling and taxes do not call a seller an employee or a contractor. Mercari’s terms are closed to our tool, so we make no claim about them.

Mercari does say what it reports. It must collect W-9 identification information from sellers who meet a filing threshold. A W-9 is a form that gives your name and tax number to a company. Mercari submits a Form 1099-K for sellers who gross over a certain amount.

A 1099-K reports the unadjusted gross amount of a sale. That is not your profit. Our post What a 1099-K Actually Reports explains it. See Sell Your Stuff on Mercari.

Self-employed trades

Work you find yourself, like cutting lawns, has no platform to take tax out. The IRS says a self-employed person has no employer withholding taxes for them.

We keep the how-to out of this post. Read Mow Lawns on Your Own and Gross Is Not Take-Home for Side Gig Income.

Silence does not mean no

Most pages here say nothing about withholding. Silence means we do not know. It does not mean nothing is taken out.

Of the pages we read for this post, only UserTesting and Wyzant say they withhold nothing. For the rest, we report the label the company uses. That is all we can say.

What we could not find

Do this before you say yes

  1. Find the words “independent contractor,” “employee,” “volunteer,” or “seller” on the gig’s own terms.
  2. Write down the page name and the date.
  3. If the page is silent, treat withholding as unknown.
  4. Ask the company or the program who handles tax.
  5. For your own case, use the IRS website or a tax pro.

Sources and dates

Each line gives the page. We checked all of them on Oct 18, 2026, except where a date is shown.

All posts or all gigs.