Career management: Taxes and the second income: For the U.S. engineer: Experts tell how to ease the tax bite on your alternate income

Moonlighting — with a second job or self-employment — can increase an engineer's income, but it can also increase tax payments. That's why knowledge of current tax requirements and practices can help the engineer protect the benefits a second income promises to provide. Those who work for more than one employer should be particularly aware of the tax consequences of excess Social Security tax payments and of the deductions that can be made for commutation expenses between jobs.