Self Employment Tax Lawyers in Prince William County

In the U.S., Prince William County, Virginia included, almost everyone who is employed during most of their adult life is suitable 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 responsible for these taxes, and are responsible for figuring out how much they owe.

Most frequently, 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 precisely what you owe.

Self-Employment tax obligations in Prince William County, Virginia

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 higher than per year.

For usual employees, Social Security and Medicare payments are made in equal parts by the employee and employer. This essentially 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 Prince William County, Virginia, you are liable for both the employee and employer contributions to Medicare and Social Security. This essentially doubles your self-employment tax rate.

In Prince William County, Virginia, self-employed business owners pay a self-employment tax rate of 15.3%. This is, of course, separate from, and additional to, whatever they pay in income tax. In an effort to partially offset this further tax burden, half of what one pays in self-employment taxes can be deducted from their income when filing their income taxes. This means that the self employed pay income taxes on, at most, 92% of their income. And it's probably less, thanks to all the other deductions they might qualify for. This deduction lowers the effective self-employment tax rate to 14%, rather than the "official" rate of over 15%.

Can a Prince William County, Virginia Tax Attorney Help?

If you are self-employed in Prince William County, 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 advise 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 efficient Prince William County, Virginia tax attorney would likely have very little trouble assisting you figure it out. A reliable lawyer can also give you practical legal advice, which can help you avoid more egregious tax law issues in the future, by dealing with them before they become problematic.