Understanding the Self-Employment Tax

Posted by Kienitz Tax Law on March 13, 2017 with 0 Comment

Working for yourself is great. You get to be your own boss, decide how much (or how little) work you want to do and control your own professional destiny. But working for yourself has its price, one of the biggest being the self-employment tax.

What Is Self-Employment?

According to the IRS, you are self-employed if you run a business as a sole proprietor, independent contractor or partnership and make $400 or more. Basically, if you’re your own boss, even in a part-time business, you have self-employment earnings as far the IRS is concerned.

What Exactly Is the Self-Employment Tax?

The self-employment tax is a 15.3% tax on your income that is really a combination of two taxes: Social Security (12.4%) and Medicare (2.9%). Even if you aren’t self-employed, you’re likely still paying these two taxes, but in much lower amounts.

For the most part, for every $100 anyone earns, the IRS gets $15.30 in Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are a W-2 wage earner, such as someone who works as an employee for an employer who takes your taxes out for you, you only have to pay half that, or $7.65. The remaining $7.65 is paid by your employer.

If you are self-employed, you have no “employer” to pay half of the 15.3% Social Security and Medicare tax bill. As a result, you’re stuck with paying the entire 15.3% of the Social Security and Medicare taxes, instead of the 7.65% if you were a W-2 wage earner.
If you make over a certain amount ($118,500 in 2015), what you pay in self-employment taxes drops a large amount. Anything you make over that amount is subject to only Medicare taxes and not Social Security taxes.

Finally, the self-employment tax rules apply no matter how old the taxpayer is or if the taxpayer is already receiving Medicare and/or Social Security payments.

How Do I Pay Self-Employment Taxes?

If you are subject to the self-employment tax and have an expected end-of-year tax liability of $1,000 or more (after taking all withholdings) you generally have to pay your taxes quarterly. Even if you plan on paying your entire tax liability on April 15^th, you must make estimated quarterly tax payments or pay a penalty.

One exception to this quarterly estimate tax payment requirement is when other income tax withholdings amount to 90% or more of your total tax bill. For example, if you make $100,000 per year, but $91,000 comes from a W-2 job and $9,000 comes from self-employment work, you won’t need to make estimated quarterly tax payments. This exception applies even if you will have more than $1,000 in expected end-of-year tax liability.

The Self-Employment Tax Deduction

The self-employment tax isn’t all bad news. The 7.65% in extra taxes you have to pay (compared to a W-2 wage earner) can be taken as a tax deduction. This doesn’t alleviate the entire self-employment tax burden, but it helps.

In Closing

The self-employment tax isn’t the most complicated tax requirement ever handed down by the IRS, but things can get a little tricky if you have multiple jobs and are really close to the estimated quarterly tax payment threshold. If you’re not sure whether you’re subject to the self-employment tax, are required to make estimated quarterly tax payments or how much those estimated quarterly tax payments should be, you probably want to speak with a tax professional.

Which Personal Assets Can the IRS Seize?

Posted by Kienitz Tax Law on February 18, 2017 with 0 Comment

The IRS’ official task is to collect taxes as required by the Internal Revenue Code. But because not every taxpayer pays taxes on time or in the correct amount, the IRS effectively becomes a debt collector — and what an effective and powerful debt collector it is.

The IRS has several tools to collect taxes owed. One of its most feared and powerful tools is the tax levy. Tax levies are particularly burdensome because they allow the IRS to take your personal property and assets. Luckily, the IRS can’t go about taking whatever personal assets it wants. It has particular rules about what it can levy and how much it can take.

Tax Levy Basics

A tax levy is the actual taking of property by the IRS in order to pay a tax debt. The two main types of tax levies include wage garnishments and the seizure of personal assets.

A tax levy usually won’t occur unless a tax lien has been placed on the taxpayer’s property first. A tax lien is a security interest taken by the IRS in all of a taxpayer’s property. The purpose of the tax lien is to protect the IRS’ ability to collect the tax debt from a particular taxpayer.

Personal Property Subject to IRS Seizure

The specific types of property the IRS may seize in order to satisfy a tax debt is vast. Examples include paychecks, personal residences (subject to exceptions), vehicles and financial accounts. Basically, almost anything a taxpayer owns can be levied, unless specifically excluded by law. So an easier way to identify which personal assets can be seized by the IRS is to find out what personal assets must be left alone.

Personal Property That Cannot Be Collected by the IRS

Section 6334 of the Internal Revenue Code lists types of property that the IRS may not seize when attempting to recover an unpaid tax debt. These include:

Essential clothing
Up to about $7,700 worth of personal effects and furniture
Up to about $3,800 worth of books or tools necessary for schooling or work
85% of a taxpayer’s public assistance, worker’s compensation and unemployment benefits. The IRS may levy these income sources, but only up to 15% of the amount.
Undelivered mail
Certain pension and annuity payments
Wages necessary to pay child support and provide for basic living expenses

Personal vehicles and residences are subject to IRS seizure, but there are limitations and exceptions to this. Additionally, the IRS understands that there’s no point in taking something that might hinder a taxpayer’s ability to pay its tax debt.

For example, if a taxpayer needs his or her car to get to work, the IRS is probably not going to seize the car. Doing so might result in the taxpayer becoming unemployed and therefore the IRS will have a more difficult time collecting the tax debt.

An overarching theme of the IRS’s seizure powers is that it will take as much as it can to collect its tax debt, but it won’t take so much that the taxpayer is either unable to pay the rest of the tax debt or becomes destitute.

In Closing

The IRS’ public policy considerations and list of exempt property are hardly going to serve as a consolation to anyone facing a tax levy. A taxpayer facing a potential levy is understandably going to be scared and extremely concerned. In order to stop the IRS from taking your personal property, you’ll likely need help from a tax professional.