Self Employment Tax Lawyers in Seatac

In the U.S., Seatac, Washington 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 makes all these calculations, and the employee doesn't have to think about it. Most larger employers have payroll departments to take these matters, making it pretty simple for them. But, if you are self-employed, it's up to you to accurately determine what you have to pay in self-employment taxes

Self-Employment tax obligations in Seatac, Washington

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.

Employees in a regular employer/employee relationship do enjoy one considerable perk that the self-employed do not: their Social Security and Medicare contributions are matched by their employers. So, if you pay in Social Security and Medicare taxes with every paycheck, your employer has to match that. This basically doubles your contribution to these programs, without doubling their financial burden on you.

However, self-employed workers in Seatac, Washington must make both the employee and employer contributions. Therefore, this means that the Medicare and Social Security tax liabilities apply doubly to the self-employed.

The total self-employment tax (note that this is totally distinct from the income tax) is set at 15.3%, if your income from self-employment in Seatac, Washington exceeds . But, half of this tax is deducted from your income, for income tax purposes. Therefore, 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 further deductions for which you may be eligible. This means that, basically, the self-employment tax rate is only 14%, as opposed to 15.3%

Can a Seatac, Washington Tax Attorney Help?

If you're self-employed in Seatac, you need to keep complete 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 simpler for a tax attorney to give you good, useful advice, should you eventually need it.

That said, if you are encountering trouble figuring out clearly how much self-employment tax you owe in Seatac, Washington, a competent tax attorney shouldn't have any trouble helping you on that front. Likewise, if you end up in a dispute with the government over your self-employment tax requirement, a good tax attorney can give you the best possible chance of getting a favorable result.