Self Employment Tax Lawyers in Baytown
In the U.S., including in Baytown, Texas, taxes are imposed on employees, which are typically deducted from their paychecks. The ones that most people are familiar 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.
It's extremely important to know that, if you are self-employed, you still have to pay those taxes, and it's also up to you to figure out precisely how much you owe, to ensure that you don't pay more or less than you are obliged to.
In most cases, employers make all the necessary calculations to determine how much needs to be deducted from an employee's check to pay these taxes. It's typically very simple, and any decent payroll software can automate this process. But the self-employed are liable for figuring this out for themselves, or hiring an accountant to do it.
Self-Employment tax obligations in Baytown, Texas
If you work as an independent contractor, or operate a sole proprietorship, you are deemed to be "self employed." You are obliged to pay the self-employment tax if your total income from self-employment exceeds per year.
For people who are employed by another person or company, the employer typically matches the employee's contributions to Medicare and Social Security. This essentially means that, when you look at your Medicare and Social Security tax statements on your paychecks, you can know that those programs are actually getting double what's shown there - with your employer covering the other half.
However, the self-employed in Baytown, Texas are responsible for making the employer AND employee contributions to those programs, essentially doubling what they would have to pay if they were employed by someone else.
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 Baytown, Texas exceeds . However, half of this tax is deducted from your income, for income tax purposes. Thus, 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, essentially, the self-employment tax rate is only 14%, as opposed to 15.3%
Can a Baytown, Texas Tax Attorney Help?
If you're self-employed in Baytown, you need to keep accurate records of all your income and expenses from the operation of your business. This will make it much easier for you to calculate your taxes when they come due, and it will make it easier for a tax attorney to give you good, useful advice, should you eventually need it.
Anyone having difficulty with figuring out what they owe in self-employment taxes in Baytown, Texas 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 serious issues from rising in the future.