Self Employment Tax Lawyers in Mount Vernon
In Mount Vernon, New York, a few different taxes are imposed on employees, and subtracted from their gross pay during each pay period. The examples that most people are familiar with are the taxes imposed to fund Medicare and Social Security, which get their funding mostly from these relatively small pay deductions.
But what if you're self-employed? You're still required 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.
Typically, 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 Mount Vernon, New York
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 are a self-employed business owner in Mount Vernon, New York, you are responsible for both the employee and employer contributions to Medicare and Social Security. This basically doubles your self-employment tax rate.
The total self-employment tax (note that this is completely distinct from the income tax) is set at 15.3%, if your income from self-employment in Mount Vernon, New York exceeds . However, half of this tax is deducted from your income, for income tax purposes. So, this means that, at most, the self-employed only have to pay income on 92% of their total income, and that amount may be lowered with additional deductions for which you may be eligible. This means that, effectively, the self-employment tax rate is only 14%, as opposed to 15.3%
Can a Mount Vernon, New York Tax Attorney Help?
If you are self-employed in Mount Vernon, it's essential that you keep good records of your income and expenses, because a tax attorney will only be able to help you to the extent that you help yourself.
Anyone having difficulty with figuring out what they owe in self-employment taxes in Mount Vernon, New York should seek the advice of a good tax attorney. Most tax attorneys also have a good knowledge of accounting, so making this determination probably won't be too hard for them. And on top of that, a competent tax attorney can give you objective and useful legal advice, which can help prevent more serious issues from arising in the future.