OT: tax question (self employed 1099)

Submitted by bouje on

To those tax professionals or business owners what is the federal tax that you'd be expected to pay for filing as a self employed person? I know that it's 15.3% , 12.4% for SS and 2.9% for MC so is it just whatever your tax bracket is along with that?

Thanks in advance.

DeathStar

July 29th, 2010 at 8:26 AM ^

H&R Block?

I mean, I know one of the most important functions of this blog is the self importance it feeds, but still--there ARE people who do this for a living right donw the street from you.

And you are self-employed--with no accountant or anything?

Are you a paperboy?

maznbluwolverine

July 29th, 2010 at 8:41 AM ^

There's no getting around the MC and SS but you can pay whatever you want to federal and state.  If you want a big refund, pay the max.  I would have a tax person figure my salary and deductions and pay that amount.  I hated waiting to get a big refund so my tax person figured out as close as he could so it would come out as close to 0 at the end of the year, that way I had more money in my pocket every week.  Try to figure out your business deductions(car, gas, rent, insurance, personel exemptions, ect.) and subtract that from your salary (estimate) and that's your tax bracket.

umchicago

July 29th, 2010 at 8:48 AM ^

don't forget the 50% deduction on the fica (self-employment) tax you get at the bottom of pg 1 on the 1040.  it lessens the tax burden a bit.

Not a Blue Fan

July 29th, 2010 at 9:40 AM ^

I haven't been self-employed for a while, but I seem to recall having to cover the employer's portion of the payroll tax in addition to my income tax. The tax burden for the self-employed is fairly outrageous; you're best off having a pro look things over.

Brian

July 29th, 2010 at 11:22 AM ^

That's basically right. It sucks. Last year I incorporated as an S Corp, though, and after you take a "reasonable salary" any profit above that can be taken as a distribution that does not suffer the 15% SS tax.

Thomer

July 29th, 2010 at 11:49 AM ^

I don't post a lot, but can somebody tell me why I was negged 10 points? I wasn't being snarky by posting the IRS link, just thought it could help the guy. I'm not a tax professional but I know that even navigating the IRS website to find the right document can be tricky for some.

Is it a "you didn't help much so you shouldn't help at all" kind of a thing?