Nearly every trade on this site has the same problem: income that cannot be predicted a year ahead. SEO is the exception. Monthly retainers are close to recurring revenue, and that changes what good practice looks like.
You Can Actually Forecast, So Do It Properly
Take your current monthly recurring revenue, multiply by twelve, adjust for known churn and any contracts with end dates, subtract costs. That is a genuinely reliable annual figure, and it is more than most self-employed people can produce.
The advantage is that you can position yourself deliberately relative to the subsidy line rather than discovering where you landed in April.
$63,500 Is a Painful Number
At $63,500 of net profit, a single filer is about 406% of the 2026 poverty guideline of $15,650. The credit ends at 400% — $62,600. You are roughly $900 over, and the credit does not taper: it is gone entirely.
But the comparison is against MAGI, not gross profit. Self-employment tax is $63,500 × 0.9235 × 0.153, about $8,972, so roughly $4,486 is deductible — and your premiums come off too. Run properly, a $63,500 net profit lands comfortably under the line.
This is the clearest example on the site of why the arithmetic matters. The same business, the same money, and a credit that either exists or does not depending on whether two standard deductions were applied.
A Retirement Contribution Is the Other Lever
Contributions to a SEP-IRA or solo 401(k) reduce adjusted gross income, and therefore MAGI. For someone sitting a little above 400% of poverty with predictable revenue, that is a legitimate and well-established way to land under the line while also saving for retirement. It is worth running past a tax preparer with your actual figures rather than improvising.
Subcontractors Change the Picture
Many SEO operators subcontract link building, content or technical work. Those payments are business expenses that reduce net profit, which is the figure the marketplace uses. If you have moved from doing everything yourself to brokering a team, your net profit may be lower than your revenue growth suggests.
Client Concentration Is the Real Risk
Recurring revenue is only predictable while it recurs. If one client is 40% of your book, losing them is a reportable income change, and reporting it raises your advance credit for the remaining months of the year.
The Deduction
100% of premiums come off on Schedule 1, Line 17, above the line, up to net self-employment income, provided no employer plan is available to you through a spouse.
If you are within a few thousand dollars of $62,600, call (713) 575-9904 and we will work out which side you are actually on.