How Much Do Surrogates Make After Taxes?

Surrogates ask this early, usually while working out what a journey would mean for the household. The honest answer is that no one can give you a take-home number without seeing your whole return, and this page explains why, says what Worldwide Surrogacy does and does not send you, and stops there.

Why there is no single after-tax number

Tax is worked out on your income for the whole year, not payment by payment. The same compensation lands differently in a household with a second income than in one without, and your own deductions and credits change it again. Where you live matters, since some states tax income and some do not. So does timing: base compensation is paid in monthly installments across the pregnancy, so it can fall across two tax years depending on the month your first installment arrives.

That is why a take-home figure worked out for someone else is unlikely to fit you, and why any page quoting one number should be read carefully.

Does Worldwide Surrogacy send you a 1099?

No. Worldwide Surrogacy does not issue a 1099 to surrogates, and nothing is withheld from your payments. What reaches you is the full amount set out in your agreement.

What you owe on it is a question for a tax professional who can see your whole return. It is worth having that conversation before your first base installment arrives rather than after, so that nothing comes as a surprise the following spring.

What counts as compensation and what counts as a reimbursement

They are different kinds of payment, and your tax professional will want to know which is which.

Compensation is paid for your time and for what you carry. A reimbursement repays a cost the journey created, and at Worldwide Surrogacy expenses are reimbursed separately and on top of compensation rather than out of it. Some costs never reach you at all: the intended parents pay for your health insurance, your medical care, a life insurance policy and your own independent attorney.

Keep the payment schedule and your receipts, and take both to whoever prepares your return. Every amount, and what triggers it, is on when and how surrogates are paid.