Self Employment Tax Lawyers in Towson
In Towson, Maryland, some taxes are enforced on employees, and deducted from their paychecks. Most people are cognizant of the Medicare and Social Security taxes - which fund those two programs by taking a small percentage of every paycheck an employee receives.
It's necessaryl to be aware of one fact: if you're self-employed, you still have to pay these taxes. And it's your responsibility (or the responsibility of someone you hire for this purpose) to figure out clearly how much you owe.
Most commonly, employers handle all of these calculations. With regular salaried and hourly employees, this is an easy procedure, and any decent payroll computer software can do it automatically. But, if you work for yourself, it is your responsibility to figure out clearly what you owe.
Self-Employment tax obligations in Towson, Maryland
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 larger than 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 Towson, Maryland, 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 Towson, Maryland. 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 Towson, Maryland Tax Attorney Help?
Self-employed individuals in Towson must ensure that they keep good, complete financial records. This makes it much easier to determine what you owe, and, if you need a tax attorney, it makes it easier for them to assist you with your legal tax contentions.
Therefore, if you have some trouble figuring out what you owe in self-employment taxes, for whatever reason, chances are good that a reliable tax attorney in Towson, Maryland can assist you with much trouble, and can provide you with good legal and financial advice, which can help you head off much more severe legal and financial issues.