<< I have a friend who is drawing a small (~$550) per month SS Benefit. Needless to say, she needs additional income, so she has a tiny business answering telephones which nets her after expenses ~$3,000 per year, and for which she has to file a Schedule C. She owes no income tax, obviously, but she has to pay ~$460 Self Employment Tax. She is over 70 and therefore does not report her earnings to SS, and has no way of collecting any additional benefits from SS. >>

Actually she does report these earnings to SSA. IRS passes the Schedule SE information along to SSA for crediting to the earnings records.

Sorry, but there is no age exemption from SE tax.

TMF ExRO
Phil Marti