Self Employment Tax Lawyers in Smithfield

In the U.S., Smithfield, 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 process, and any decent payroll computer software can do it automatically. However, if you work for yourself, it is your responsibility to figure out precisely what you owe.

Self-Employment tax obligations in Smithfield, 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.

Persons 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 acquiring, on your behalf, twice as much money as what's deducted for your paycheck, with your employer covering the other half.

However, the self-employed in Smithfield, Virginia 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 Smithfield, Virginia 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 Smithfield, Virginia Tax Attorney Help?

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

Anyone having difficulty with figuring out what they owe in self-employment taxes in Smithfield, Virginia 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 severe issues from rising in the future.