Self Employment Tax Lawyers in San Leandro

In San Leandro, California, there are certain taxes that are enforced on employees, which are deducted from their paychecks. The mostly 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 exactly how much you owe, to confirm that you don't pay more or less than you are required to.

Usually, it's the employer who makes all these calculations, and the employee doesn't have to think about it. Most larger employers have payroll departments to handle these matters, making it pretty simple for them. But, if you are self-employed, it's up to you to accurately determine what you have to pay in self-employment taxes

Self-Employment tax obligations in San Leandro, California

If you are an independent contractor, or run a sole proprietorship (a company which you own, and which is not incorporated as a separate legal entity), you must pay the so-called "self-employment tax" if your income from self-employment is greater than per year.

Employees in a regular employer/employee relationship do enjoy one significant 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 effectively doubles your contribution to these programs, without doubling their financial burden on you.

But, if you're self employed in San Leandro, California, or anywhere else, you are required to make the employee AND employer contributions to Social Security and Medicare, effectively doubling your employment tax liability.

Currently, the self-employment tax rate in the United States is 15.30% of all income earned from self-employment in San Leandro, 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 San Leandro, California Tax Attorney Help?

If you work for yourself in San Leandro, you have to stay on top of your self-employment taxes, to avoid facing serious legal and financial issues later on. This means you need to keep excellent records of all your income and expenses, in case you need to seek the advice of a tax attorney: the more information you can provide your lawyer, the better he or she can help you.

So, if you have some trouble figuring out what you owe in self-employment taxes, for whatever reason, chances are good that a qualified tax attorney in San Leandro, California can help you with much trouble, and can provide you with good legal and financial advice, which can help you head off much more serious legal and financial issues.