Self Employment Tax Lawyers in Buena Vista

In the U.S., Buena Vista, Virginia included, almost everyone who is employed during most of their adult life is qualified for Social Security and Medicare benefits when they retire. These programs are supported by taxes deducted from the paychecks of most employees.

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

Normally, it's the employer who does all the calculations, deciding what deductions need to be made from a worker's paycheck to cover his or her tax liability. But if you are your own boss, you have to do this, and confirm that your figures are accurate.

Self-Employment tax obligations in Buena Vista, Virginia

If you own a sole-proprietorship, or work mainly as an independent contractor, you need to pay the "self-employment tax" if you derive any considerable amount of income from self-employment. You must pay these taxes if your income from self-employment is more than annually.

Individuals who are not self-employed, and work for another person or company, have their contributions to Medicare and Social Security matched by their employers. This means that these programs are receiving, on your behalf, twice as much money as what's deducted for your paycheck, with your employer covering the other half.

But, the self-employed in Buena Vista, Virginia are responsible for making the employer AND employee contributions to those programs, basically doubling what they would have to pay if they were employed by someone else.

The self-employment tax rate is 15.3% of all self-employment income, assuming your income from self-employment exceeds per year in Buena Vista, Virginia. 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 Buena Vista, Virginia Tax Attorney Help?

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

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 Buena Vista, Virginia 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.