Self Employment Tax Lawyers in Indianola

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

But what if you're self-employed? You're still obliged to pay these taxes, since you will also be qualified for those retirement programs. It's also your responsibility to determine what your tax liability is.

Typically, 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 Indianola, Iowa

If you mainly work as an independent contractor, or are the owner of a sole proprietorship, you have to pay what's usually referred to as the "self-employment tax," if your annual income from self-employment is over .

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

However, self-employed workers in Indianola, Iowa must make both the employee and employer contributions. Thus, this means that the Medicare and Social Security tax liabilities apply doubly to the self-employed.

Currently, the self-employment tax rate in the United States is 15.30% of all income earned from self-employment in Indianola, Iowa. 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 Indianola, Iowa Tax Attorney Help?

If you are self-employed in Indianola, 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 advise 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.

If you have any difficulty calculating your self-employment tax liability, an efficient Indianola, Iowa tax attorney would likely have very little trouble assisting you figure it out. A reliable lawyer can also give you practical legal advice, which can help you avoid more significant tax law issues in the future, by dealing with them before they become problematic.