Fucking Social Security tax
 

I had to pay up the wazoo on the SS tax...and SS will prolly not even be around when I retire. Anyne else pay up the ass for SS today?

I bet I paid as much as you if not more. LOL

What if you broke your back and couldn't work anymore? Couldn't move your hands or what not

I am about to take the payment to the post office...it hurts me though to let go of this money. It really hurts me

anyone know how you check and see how much SS you have coming your way if you retire or something? I know there is a goverment site that lets you check that

Yeah its a bitch when you have to pay double SS tax for being self employed.

Tip to newbies, get an accountant for next year NOW, don't wait. They'll more than pay for themselves with what they can save you in taxes.

I waited until August last year to see an accountant and form an LLC/S corp, so I had to pay the double social security tax for the first 8 months of the year. That fuckin hurt.

It's funny how the Soc. Sec. Administration calls it a Social Security 'contribution' , then when they turned it over to the IRS simply for collection conveniences, it strangely became a Social Security 'tax'..

Gotta love this non-federal collection agent.. :)

They mail you a statement once a year, the month of your birthday I'm pretty sure.

I don't know if you can access that online or not. I doubt it though.

Lenny hon. I have one. there's soo much more to it then that.

If you're not incorp. DO IT! you get a few welcome tax breaks.

oh and if you're not incorp. pay quarterly!

they stop taking tax out from my check in october... I guess there is a limit they take each year.

I think you can request a statement at
http://www.ssa.gov/mystatement/

yep, thats it. thanx :)

So if you form an LLC, you don't pay double the SS tax? Instead you just pay 7.5%?

I get money back you dumb bastards!

self employment ss tax is a FUCKING BITCH!!! I have to pay 15% that's 1 grand of every 6 i made.

Lets just say, no vacations for me in the near future.

Social security tax is broken into to parts... FICA (6.2%) of the first $87,000 you made in 2002 and Medicare (1.45%) of your total wages. For those who are self-employed and not incorporated you end you paying both the 'employee' and the 'employer' portion of the taxes which doubles it.

Where being an LLC or Incorporated helps is that you can pay yourself a specific wage so it caps the limit on your medicare taxes and also the employer portion of the taxes becomes an expense of the company.

For example... if you netted $250,000 self-employed. You'd pay $10,778 in FICA ($87K X 6.2% X 2) and $7,250 in Medicare($250,000 X 1.45% x 2).

Now if you're incorporated as an S-Corp where all the income passes to you anyway, you could set your 'salary' as $100,000. You'd seill pay FICA but half of it would be a direct expense of the company. The Medicare would be a total of $2,900, but half of that is an expense of the company (as are your wages).

So in that example alone without taking into account any other benefits, you'd save yourself $4,350. It works out to more across the board, but I'm using an easy example.

You can also set yourself up a 'pension' plan and put up to $40K a year of untaxed money away. It reduces the bottom line of your company and you pay less taxes that way.

The whole system is corrupt, and I dare say, unconstitutional.

Add to this the fact that the GAO puts us at, I believe, almost 500 billion a year in medicare/SSI fraud.

Do you think any of us _working_ schmoes should have to pay a dime when we've got that much cash going into criminal's pockets? Ugh.

You guys are still paying taxes?

You only have to pay SS on the first $70k that you make in a year.

What PK said is pretty close to how I'm set up.
I take about half of my money as a salary. So I have to pay payroll (read social security) taxes on that. (15.3% total)
The other half of the money I take in the form of a dividend, which I still have to pay federal and state income tax on, but its exempt from social security tax.

The only disadvantage to this is that there will be less social security money due you at age 65 or 72 or whatever age you retire at, but if you're smart with your money that shouldn't be an issue.

So yeah, by taking only half my money as salary, I only pay social security on half, so that works out about the same as only having to pay the 7.5% you'd pay working for someone else.

Oh BTW, you can't do what I said above if you're a sole proprietor. You have to be a LLC or corporation to do it this way.

Another drawback is that if you put yourself on payroll, then you have to pay payroll tax every month by the 15th. You can't hang on to the cash until the end of the quarter.

There's also all kinds of neat little bullshit you have to deal with when you set up an LLC or Corporation. Like you'll have to pay unemployment tax on yourself....LOL

I swear I'm going to the employment office next year and telling them I laid myself off and want to collect benefits.

apparently you have to pay SS on the first $87k you make now... motherfuckers raised it

FICA (social security) taxable wage limit for 2002 was $84,900. 2003 is $87,000. It goes up a few thousand every year.

No.... You're the only one. :1orglaugh

God damn it guys, here in Australia if you're registered as a business (minimum) then you pay 50% off EVERYTHING you earn if its over $30k-US equivalent... and the only way to pay less is if you register as a company, in that case you still have to pay a fixed rate of 30%... now THAT sux!

The tax they've been talking about is just one tax. The larger portion goes to Federal Income Tax and it can be up to 38%.

Thanks for the explanation PK. This explains why my accountant has asked me several times to form a llc as I stupidly drag my feet. This years tax bill for me was a wake up.