Self Employment Tax Lawyers in Colton

In Colton, California, there are particular taxes that are enforced on employees, which are deducted from their paychecks. The generally well-known employment taxes are the Medicare and Social Security tax, for which a small percentage of every employee's paycheck is deducted.

It's extremely important to know that, if you are self-employed, you still have to pay those taxes, and it's also up to you to figure out clearly how much you owe, to confirm that you don't pay more or less than you are obligated to.

Normally, it's the employer who does all the calculations, deciding what deductions need to be made from a worker's paycheck to cover his or her tax liability. But if you are your own boss, you have to do this, and confirm that your figures are accurate.

Self-Employment tax obligations in Colton, California

If you work as an independent contractor, or operate a sole proprietorship, you are deemed to be "self employed." You are required to pay the self-employment tax if your total income from self-employment exceeds per year.

Employees in a regular employer/employee relationship do enjoy one considerable perk that the self-employed do not: their Social Security and Medicare contributions are matched by their employers. So, if you pay in Social Security and Medicare taxes with every paycheck, your employer has to match that. This basically doubles your contribution to these programs, without doubling their financial burden on you.

However, if you are a self-employed business owner in Colton, California, you are accountable for both the employee and employer contributions to Medicare and Social Security. This essentially doubles your self-employment tax rate.

Currently, the self-employment tax rate in the United States is 15.30% of all income earned from self-employment in Colton, California. Nonetheless, half of your hypothetical self-employment tax liability can be deducted from your income. This means that you only pay self-employment tax on about 92% of your income, which creates an effective self-employment tax rate of just over 14%.

Can a Colton, California Tax Attorney Help?

If you are self-employed in Colton, it's extremely important for you to be diligent in keeping records of your income and expenses, to ensure that you pay all the self-employment taxes that you owe (and also to make sure you don't over-pay). You may one day need a tax attorney to assist you with a legal issue, and they can help you far more efficiently if you are able to quickly present them with all the relevant information.

With all that said, if you are having difficulty deciding just how much money you owe in Medicare and Social Security taxes from self-employment in Colton, California, and keep good financial records, it should be relatively easy for a decent tax attorney to help you. And, if you end up facing a more severe legal issue over your self-employment tax liability, a tax attorney may prove to be invaluable.