Self Employment Tax Lawyers in Washtenaw County

In Washtenaw County, Michigan, some taxes are placed on employees, and deducted from their paychecks. Most people are aware of the Medicare and Social Security taxes - which fund those two programs by taking a small percentage of every paycheck an employee receives.

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

Normally, the employer makes all the necessary calculations and deductions from a person's paycheck. If you are self-employed, however, you are required to make this determination, and to ensure that it's accurate.

Self-Employment tax obligations in Washtenaw County, Michigan

If you primarily work as an independent contractor, or are the owner of a sole proprietorship, you have to pay what's typically 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, if you're self employed in Washtenaw County, Michigan, or anywhere else, you are obliged to make the employee AND employer contributions to Social Security and Medicare, essentially doubling your employment tax liability.

Self-employed workers in Washtenaw County, Michigan pay a self-employment tax rate of 15.3% of their income that's derived from self-employment. However, half of whatever they end up paying in self-employment tax is deductible from income tax. This essentially creates a tax deduction of nearly 8% of one's income, requiring you to only pay taxes on 92% of what you earn. Additional tax deductions may lower that number further. When this deduction is taken into account, the self-employment tax rate is effectively 14%, as opposed to over 15%.

Can a Washtenaw County, Michigan Tax Attorney Help?

If you are self-employed in Washtenaw County, it's imperative that you keep good records of your income and expenses, because a tax attorney will only be able to advise you to the extent that you help yourself.

Anyone having difficulty with figuring out what they owe in self-employment taxes in Washtenaw County, Michigan should seek the assistance of a knowledgeable tax attorney. Most tax attorneys also have a good familiarity of accounting, so making this determination probably won't be too hard for them. And on top of that, a skilled tax attorney can give you objective and useful legal advice, which can help prevent more severe issues from rising in the future.