Self Employment Tax Lawyers in Keizer

In the U.S., including in Keizer, Oregon, taxes are enforced on employees, which are normally deducted from their paychecks. The ones that most people are acquainted with are the Medicare and Social Security taxes. The idea is that workers pay into these programs during their entire working lives, and then enjoy the benefits they provide once they retire.

Individuals who are self-employed are still accountable for these taxes, and are responsible for figuring out how much they 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 Keizer, Oregon

If you derive even a small percentage of your income from running your own business, or working as an independent contractor, you have to pay the "self-employment tax." This tax applies to everybody who makes more than per year from self-employment.

For normal employees, Social Security and Medicare payments are made in equal parts by the employee and employer. This basically means that every employee's contribution to his or her future Medicare and Social Security benefits is matched by the employer.

However, if you are a self-employed business owner in Keizer, Oregon, you are accountable for both the employee and employer contributions to Medicare and Social Security. This essentially doubles your self-employment tax rate.

The self-employment tax rate is 15.3% of all self-employment income, assuming your income from self-employment exceeds per year in Keizer, Oregon. But half of your self-employment tax liability can be deducted from your income tax. This results in a slightly reduced income tax bill, which partially offsets this additional tax burden. It essentially means that the self-employment tax only applies to 92% of your income, as opposed to all of it. This means that your effective self-employment tax rate is about 14%, as opposed to over 15%.

Can a Keizer, Oregon Tax Attorney Help?

If you are self-employed in Keizer, 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 assist 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 accomplished Keizer, Oregon tax attorney would likely have very little trouble assisting you figure it out. A seasoned 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.