Got a letter from the IRS

[geormiet]

It looks like I'm in the same boat as 2ndgoat was in a few months ago. link

The IRS disagrees with my 2004 tax return, claiming I owe self employment tax (plus interest).

In 2004 I was a full time graduate student. I was not employed. All my income came from poker and cello teaching/playing. The majority of this was from poker, but I pursued neither activity on a full time basis due to being a graduate student.

I used turbotax to do my return, and I merely plugged in the gambling wins and gambling losses when prompted. The result was that my gambling wins were filed as additional income, 1040 line 21

The IRS has given me no reason, but propose that i pay a very significant chunk in self employment tax, plus interest within 30 days.

I'm planning on fighting this, but I only got the letter last night so I haven't really formulated a plan yet. Needless to say I am distraught.

As for now I'm hoping that my status as a full time student will allow me to claim amateur status.