Very good advice about the FICA tax (that is, Social Security tax), especially when FICA is part of your "self-employment tax."

My wife quit her last tax-withholding "day job" years ago, to be a stay-at-home mom for a while, and then very gradually began making a little self-employment money. We didn't get a business license, nor declare income for taxation, for several years ~ not until the kids got a little older and her work became more of a full-time occupation.

Since then, we've been compliant and law-abiding taxpayers; for a few years before "coming out," we did enjoy a bit of undeclared income, but really not very much, and certainly never much more than could have been legitimately written off as business expense.

Now, she's become disabled while still in her mid 50s, and hasn't paid enough into Social Security to qualify for disability payment. Had she remained healthy and kept her business running for another decade (i.e., until normal returement age), we would have continued to declare her income, paid the FICA (even in years when business income would have been low enough to minimize income tax, which is different), and she would have qualified for social security retirement. Indeed, if she would have remained ablebodied for just a few more years before succumbing to disablity, our payments into FICA in her name would eventually have sufficed for disability eligibility.