Self Employment Tax Lawyers in Milwaukee
In the U.S., Milwaukee, Wisconsin included, almost everyone who is employed during most of their adult life is eligible for Social Security and Medicare benefits when they retire. These programs are supported by taxes deducted from the paychecks of most employees.
It's crucial to note that if you are self-employed, you're still liable for those taxes, and it's your responsibility to figure out what you owe.
Typically, the employer makes all the necessary calculations and deductions from a person's paycheck. If you are self-employed, however, you are required to make this determination, and to ensure that it's accurate.
Self-Employment tax obligations in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
If you primarily work as an independent contractor, or are the owner of a sole proprietorship, you have to pay what's typically referred to as the "self-employment tax," if your annual income from self-employment is over .
Employees in a regular employer/employee relationship do enjoy one significant 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 effectively doubles your contribution to these programs, without doubling their financial burden on you.
But, self-employed workers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin must make both the employee and employer contributions. So, this means that the Medicare and Social Security tax liabilities apply doubly to the self-employed.
Currently, the self-employment tax rate in the United States is 15.30% of all income earned from self-employment in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. However, half of your hypothetical self-employment tax liability can be deducted from your income. This means that you only pay self-employment tax on about 92% of your income, which creates an effective self-employment tax rate of just over 14%.
Can a Milwaukee, Wisconsin Tax Attorney Help?
If you are self-employed in Milwaukee, 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 help you with a legal issue, and they can help you far more effectively if you are able to quickly provide them with all the relevant information.
If you have any difficulty calculating your self-employment tax liability, an experienced Milwaukee, Wisconsin tax attorney would probably have very little trouble helping you figure it out. A good lawyer can also give you practical legal advice, which can help you avoid more severe tax law issues in the future, by dealing with them before they become problematic.