You probably want to be a sole proprietor. First, as a small business you can generally choose cash basis accounting, so that means if you do any work this year, you can simply not deposit the check until next year and have the income count towards next year. This may or may not be the most optimal thing to do, but it gives you time to sort everything out.
Check out the Nolo Press books on self employment, they were a huge help to me when I started. Any net profit (Revenue minus expenses) will basically be added to your income and you have to pay taxes on it. There is likely a bunch of stuff you can deduct from the business Internet and cell phone costs associated with the business easily, any computer equipment purchased for the work? office supplies purchased for the work? It may also open up some additional retirement account options such as a SEP IRA. Self Employment with good record keeping can result in shielding a very nice chunk of that revenue from becoming income.