Do I pay taxes on user testing income?

How the income is treated

Panels pay you as an independent participant. There is no employer, no withholding and no W-2. The IRS treats such payments as income you report yourself; the amount and how to report it depend on your situation, and a tax professional or tax software is the right place to ask.

What Inflight does

Inflight does not withhold tax, does not collect tax forms and does not issue them. You take part as an independent participant, not an employee, and you are responsible for any tax on your earnings. Your dashboard keeps a downloadable history of every study and payment for your own records.

What PayPal does

PayPal, as a payment processor, reports payments to tax authorities where the law requires it, under its own thresholds (the IRS describes these on its Form 1099-K page). Whether you receive a form from PayPal depends on your total PayPal receipts, not only on Inflight.

What other panels do

UserTesting says it does not withhold taxes and that contributors are responsible for their own tax liabilities. Respondent and User Interviews pay through third-party reward platforms. Policies change, so check each panel's own page.

Questions people ask next

Will Inflight ask for my Social Security number?

No. Inflight collects no tax information and the application has no tax step.

Will I get a 1099 from Inflight?

No. Inflight does not issue tax forms. Whether PayPal sends you one depends on your total PayPal receipts under its own thresholds.

Is this tax advice?

No. It describes what Inflight does and does not do. Your own reporting depends on your situation; ask a tax professional.