I cannot find anything that says a SPIFF (sales incentive) that is paid to the owner of a business, rather than an employee should subject to self employment tax.

This is a new client, and the prior CPA reported the SPIFF as subject to S/E - reporting the amount as part of the income on schedule C.

That is the conservative approach to be sure, but employees do not have to report as subject to S/E, so wouldn't the same hold true for a business owner reporting as part of his income on schedule C?

I've changed my mind three or four times about this.

Thoughts?