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Hi there,
Welcome to the first Side Gig Wire. In each issue we cover what changed for people doing extra work, run the real numbers on one gig, and share one practical step to get your side gig found online. No hype, no income claims, and every fact linked to its source.
The rundown
The 1099-K threshold is back to $20,000. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, payment apps and online marketplaces only have to send you a Form 1099-K once you pass both $20,000 and 200 transactions in a year. The planned drop to $600 is off. One thing hasn’t changed: the income is taxable either way. Some states also have lower thresholds of their own.
The 2026 mileage rate is 72.5¢. The IRS set its standard business mileage rate at 72.5 cents a mile for 2026, up 2.5 cents. If you deliver or drive for work, every logged business mile at that rate comes off your taxable profit.
Gigs that find you are the ones to question. The FTC’s job-scam guidance keeps coming back to one pattern: an unsolicited text or DM offering easy work from home: reshipping packages, data entry, “app optimisation”. If you didn’t apply, be sceptical.
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What's paying, what changed on the big platforms, and how to get your side gig found online.
Reality check: what a delivery hour really pays
The number in the app isn’t your hourly pay. Count your waiting time, and put a price on every mile (the IRS rate is a good stand-in for the true cost), and a $78, four-hour shift can work out anywhere from about $8 to $17 an hour depending on how you count the car. We walk through the method so you can run your own numbers: How to work out what you really earn per hour.
One gig, done right: online tutoring
Tutoring marketplaces bring you students and keep a share for it. Wyzant, for example, lets tutors set their own rate and keep 75%; students pay a separate 9% fee. We cover how to set a rate that survives prep time and the platform’s cut, and when to find students yourself: Online tutoring: how the marketplaces take their cut.
Get found: the channel no algorithm can take away
Every platform you work through, from the delivery app to the marketplace to the social network, can change its fees, its ranking or its rules overnight. A list of people who asked to hear from you is the one thing that moves with you. Start small: ask your next five happy customers if they’d like an occasional email from you. Here’s why it matters, and how to start: Why the money is in the list.
Scam to skip: the job that pays you to “unlock” your earnings
You rate products or like videos, watch “earnings” build up in an online account, and then you’re told to deposit your own money to unlock them or reach the next level. The earnings were never real. Real work never makes you pay to get paid. More warning signs: Nine red flags that a side gig is a scam.
Before you go
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The Side Gig Wire team
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