Additional info on SS taxes
Posted By: Happy MT Robin on 2009-05-06
In Reply to: A couple thoughts - NIghtOwl
As above post says, you do have to pay the employer and employee portion of the SS taxes. BUT, you then deduct the employer portion of those taxes on your 1040 at the end of the year. It's a pain because you have to shell the money out up front, but you get the deduction for it.
So, really, there's no difference in the taxes. It's just a difference in how and when you pay them.
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Once again --- IC taxes - YOU only pay 7.5% SS additional
The only ADDITIONAL taxes you pay is the 7.5 for the SS tax. When you are an employee all OTHER taxes are withheld by your employer. As an IC you control the withholding of your taxes as you are the employer. You can find many deductions that you can take as an IC to make up that extra 7.5%. It just makes my teeth grind when someone says that now as an IC you must pay your own taxes, no employer pays your taxes except for half of the social security tax. All rest is deducted from your pay. My first and second year I did see a CPA but now I use Turbo Tax and do it myself. But keep track of any and all expenses related to your business so you get the NET income down as far as you can, going to the bank, buying of supplies, telephone, internet, mileage. I find that I have more usable income having my own business than if I were an employee. But again, everyone look at your paycheck stubs and see how much you made before your employer PAID your taxes and afterwards -- gee is someone seems that the taxes came out of YOUR check and they did not pay them out of theirs. It hurts to see that 15% taken away but just get your net income down as much as you can. So if at 10 cpl you were an employee you would need to add approximately .0075 cents or after deductions about 1/2 of a cent to pay for your 7.5 percent social security tax. Anyway that is my math for a Saturday.
additional info
Hope this helps.
http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/ergoguide.html
additional info
Not sure about the driving yet. She said she had a computer guy that might can get me set up from home. She wants me to type into her computerized chart instead of just on paper if possible. I have 17 years experience, it's clinic notes for the most part, maybe some letters here and there. I was going to go with 65 count line including spaces and headers. I am in Tennessee in a rural area, just a small doc's office. I
taxes and conflicting info
You got some conflicting info. Obviously your best source for info would be a tax preparer. Short of that.....generally speaking, quarterly taxes are the rule for self-employed persons (ICs). There is, however, a rule know as safe harbor which in a nutshell says if you covered your prior year's liability you could theoretically get by paying yearly. this is not an easy formula, though, so it is best to get some professional help. The penalties can be significant. My first year as IC I had an 8% penalty on top of the extra taxes. It cost me a couple hundred bucks. As far as percentages, the "self employment tax" is 7.5%, which is for social security alone as no one is putting in for you but you. You then have to put in enough for federal and state income tax, which is usually 20-30% unless you have low income or a lot of tax credits. If you live above the poverty level, you will be most likely in that range. Add the 7.5% to that and you will have your number. You can tell by looking at the prior tax year and just seeing what percentage of total income went to federal and state tax and then add 7.5% because you are now an IC. Hope that helps. this info came from my accountant when my husband and I were both ICs, who we consulted AFTER our first very costly tax year mistakes.
3 additional?
Not too bad. I've seen the help wanted postings and wondered about them. I'd love to do the VR but have a bad back and can't sit 8 solid hours.
additional thought
well, and I was having red flags pop up in my mind as well because on their website www.unitedtran.com, there isn't even a physical address if someone wanted to inquire through an alternate route, they leave no phone numbers to contact, only general email addresses. So, I really appreciate all the input tonight! Thanks!
Some additional thoughts SM
I'm curious about what you've decided and agree with Searching's excellent post; but for whoever else is reading, it's inspired me to emphasize a couple of things I'd have liked someone to point out to me.
One, the future of this field is editing, not transcribing, emphasizing a different set of talents and skills. Just what the differences are I don't know as it's not discussed nearly enough, but they're there. Fewer people will handle more reports, getting in and out of them very quickly. Anyone thinking of entering the field should try to assess as quickly as possible whether the abilities to read fast and edit grammar and punctuation on the fly are there. Don't transcribe for two years before finding out.
Second, some are going to disagree with me, no doubt, but school is much, much less valuable than the same weeks spent actually working full-time. This is definitely one of those learn-by-doing jobs, so examine why you're going to school. If it's to get a credential to show an employer you're ready to start learning, okay, just definitely don't turn down a chance to actually spend hours with headphones and a keyboard for it. Buy a set of med terminology flashcards.
Regarding what else one might look to school for, though, trainees should bring a pretty good understanding of grammar and punctuation to the table with them and not need school for that. If more than a quick brush-up of basic "rules" is needed, that could be an warning sign that talents lie elsewhere. Or maybe not, but be aware. Similarly, not reading very much could be another since reading imprints written language patterns in a way spoken language doesn't.
Last, more and more people are paid by production, not the hour. $0.0425 per line edited, or whatever. Do 300 lines per hour for a total of 3 hours actually spent working, be prepared to gross $38 that day. Do 850 lines per hour for 8 hours, gross $290. So although being a demon typist will always be extremely valuable, also be prepared to use every advantage technology offers to get as fast as possible. Get a word Expander and use it. A lot. Learn to write macros. And so on. Best wishes.
What the other reasons might be for some people tearing their hair out over low pay and others feeling basically satisfied with their incomes I also don't know, but the ones mentioned are very important.
Did your computer come with a packet of additional
software? I have an HP computer, about 4 years old, that came with several disks of extras, one of which was WORD 2000.
Thanks for the clarification and additional information.
x
My computer has additional ports on the sm
front. Maybe yours does, too. Odd that you only have one on the back but maybe I'm not getting the picture.
You have your W2 showing very clearly those taxes were paid. MQ is responsible for those taxes
because you were a statutory employee. That is the responsibility of the employer to pay those just as though you were an employee.
WordzXpress gave additional pay for more difficult
adf
I agree with you - 1000 lines is wonderful additional help! sm
It is too bad you have hooked up with a person who does not value family. I always put family first. I used to not do that, and I regret those years.
I would establish borders with her - sounds like she needs it.
Depends on each company, but usually incentive pay is only on the additional lines. Ask to be sure.
s
The help file tells you how to create additional dictionaries and, yes, they do get full. nm
xx
Need additional cardiac reference - have Stedmans - need something more detailed about heart caths,
nm
As an IC when paying taxes, are SS and fed taxes sent SM
to the same place?
THANK YOU! That is my point. She still pays taxes, her DH still pays taxes...
so who exactly is getting cheated? And just who are you talking about when you talk about whether it is "fair" or not. I don't give a crap how much taxes my neighbor pays. It's none of my business. And if I found out they were paying less in taxes than me, I would ask them how they heck are they doing it so I can do it too!
I just want ask, is it necessary to get personal and insult? You disagree with me, fine. But I've been called a liar, a cheat, a no-ingetrity thief, my intelligence has been insulted, and I have had my parenting skills questioned. That is a little over the top. If you cannot debate an issue without resulting to personal attacks, then YOU are the stunted one!
It is a very good thing that some of you work at home, ALONE! You are sorely lacking in people skills and diplomacy. Let me guess, when you worked in the office you were one of those girls who didn't like to share her desk, griped if someone dropped a crumb on your desk, and kept track of everyone's breaks, lunches, and line counts just so you could tattle to the supervisor! I've worked women like you, it was like working with kindergarteners. That's why I came home to work. Do us all a favor, looking in the mirror, count your wrinkles, and realize that this isn't high school anymore!
demographic info is not the only info ...sm
protected by HIPAA, as we all know. I saw that ad too and was surprised to see it. Any identifying info is considered Protected Health Information, including diagnoses, tests, etc. This MTSO should have known better than to ask for that.
I do pay taxes --- MOST DEFINITELY PAY TAXES
I also keep track of all of the write offs!!
Do you also pay your own taxes?
that means it works out to about $13 an hour.
Taxes
Do you think when you are working for someone else that "they pay your taxes?" We all pay our own taxes except for the additional 7.5% of SS as an IC you pay. And I will bet that as an IC/MTSO I pay a lot less taxes than you do and I make more than you do. I cannot understand the mentality of people that say "you pay your own taxes." Your employer just "holds your money and pays your taxes." I am just responsible enough to put the money aside and pay mine but as a IC/MTSO with all my deductions I pay on 20 to 25% of my gross and I am able to put aside $700 to $1000 per month in my retirement which is totally deductable. Your statement is totally incorrect.
IC - taxes
I am never sure whether to classify myself as an IC or small MTSO as I have my own accounts. But where I see a lot of the problem is that the doctors are not making as much as they used to, due to insurance company reimbursement, etc. They are trying to save every penny that they can just like we do. I keep my line charges probably quite low according to many standards but I make a a very good living and I cannot see charging the doctors 15 to 18 cents per line when I make very decent money at 11 to 12 cpl -- gross lines. I also get GREAT tax breaks and though I have to pay the other half of the SS self employment, I still bring home more of a dollar than working for someone else. I have also found it hard to find anybody that will subcontract to me that is truly dedicated and will work hard. (I pay 8 to 9 cents per gross line and I deliver tapes and do all the printing, pick ups and deliveries) I know that kids get sick, there are football games, etc. but this is still a job and you gotta put it first sometimes. It is hard to find anyone that will work the TAT of 20 to 24 hours by the time I get the tapes to them. Then that leaves the burden on me. So I mostly stick to my accounts that bring me in $50 to $55 per year (and this gives me my benefits) and have turned down accounts because I don't want the hassle of the IC's to me and they could be going overseas right now. But I think that the insurance companies are behind this more than the docs. When your MRI is interpreted over in India -- do you get a break on the interpretation -- no but the insurance company gets a break on what they pay out so who pockets it????
My thoughts and I am sure I will get a lot of disgreements but that is okay we are all entitled to our thoughts. Oh yea for this amount of money I do work 28 to 32 to hours per week-- just quit an in house part-time job as they wanted me at least 24 hours now, started out at 10 to 12 but the docs found out that they could make more money paying me to transcribe their tapes than to type their own notes in the EMR's even with templates. So we will be around for a while. Oh yea if I would have kept on with both jobs would have easily made $65 K but working 50 hours a week was getting to be a bit much.
Patti
IC taxes
One suggestion that I have for all of you that are questioning IC taxes is to look at your past tax refunds when you were an employee and see what percentage was withheld and do about the same. Yes there is that extra 7.5 for SS but it is also a deduction and you can look to find 7.5% of your pay as a deduction whether it be in the form of your own retirement fund, etc. When I saw that I was paying so much to the IRS, I decided that if I could afford that I could start my own retirement fund and did it. I now contribute close to $1000 to it per month. So go online, get an old copy of Turbo Tax and run off the schedule C's and see what deductions can be taken for a small business and then see what you can do to save in taxes. Look at your old tax returns and if you are married have your husband over withold if you can't do it yourself. You are not paying that much more when you work for yourself you are just in charge of paying them yourself and not allowing someone else to hold it out from your check. But look at old returns, plan, plan and plan. When you look at your net vs your gross that will tell you what percentage your employer is holding out. Either as an employee or an IC we all pay our "OWN" taxes but as an employee someone just does it for you. Good luck to all of you. Patti
TAXES~~
You get to deduct sooooo much, part of your housing, utilities, any supplies such as printer paper. Last year I made about 40,000 and once the deductions were complete, it was right at about 8000 (have kids to deduct of course so that helped)
taxes
I live in Alabama and have always been employed in Georgia. Other than the time I was an IC, we always filed both Alabama and Georgia tax, whether I did the work at home or not. My husband works in Alabama. The amount of the tax always pretty much balanced out. In fact, I usually got a refund from both states, just more for one than the other. As an IC, I only file an Alabama return, as that is where my "home business" is located, no matter where my "clients" are.
Taxes
If you are talking about tax deduction the answer is no. If you are an employee and the company is taking out your taxes, etc. you are not considered an independent contractor. If you are SELF-EMPLOYEED...then the answer would be yes.
Taxes
Maybe they do that because they don't have to pay SS, or withhold any taxes for them since they don't live here. Maybe we need to put the bug into the government's ear that they are losing out on a lot of money here by allowing them to do this and you know how the government loves money. Just a thought.
IC and taxes
Is it a pain to do taxes when you are an IC? What do you all do?
IC taxes
Go here: https://www.eftpssouth.com/Eftps/
This is for federal taxes and you can pay on a weekly, daily, monthly, etc basis. As far as expenses deductible, you really need to do some research - you can deduct all expenses related to the running of your business. Best thing to do is have a room in the home/apt totally devoted to work and you can then take that % of home as a deduction. You obviously know very little about this stuff or you wouldn't ask that question. I would suggest getting the IRS instruction booklet on home office and the one on business expenses and reading it thru thoroughly. If you are not good at this stuff, then hire someone to do your first year and learn.
IC taxes
Will do that. Thanks for your input.
taxes
They are right in that the SS is 15.7% but remember when you were working for someone they held out 7.5% from your check. Look back at your checks as an employee and see what was held out -- the only diference from being an IC is that you have to be responsible to pay the taxes and not have someone withold them for you. Also look to see what deductions you have, take those off and you pay 15.whatever of that amount in SS. It all depends on what you are making. I start out with 45K+ and pay SS on about 15K. But I have a retirement fund that I am contributing to and that takes a lot off. But if you look at your paycheck as an employee you will see that 20 to 25% is being taken out of your check and you ARE paying those, someone just makes sure it is deducted. If you husband is working as an employee (my ex-was) I had him hold out as single none and we always got something back. Either way as an employee or an an IC -- we allpay it in the end.
IC Taxes??
I have recently taken a job as an IC, this is my first IC position and I was wondering if any of you wise folks could give me some advise regarding income taxes and such.
In the past I have always used TaxCut or TurboTax for my income taxes. Is there a similar product for the 'self employed' that is as helpful? Does anyone have any experience with any of these?
Also, MUST I pre-pay taxes and/or SSI quarterly? I ALWAYS get all my taxes I pay in back in a refund and my income is essentially the same as my previous employment.
Thanks!
You actually mean net? After taxes? nm
x
taxes
Haven't started mine, but for the first time in ages, I have only one 1099! Should be pretty simple.
TAXES.
I am new to this IC tax stuff. This is my first year doing this, and I have no idea what I am in for at tax time. I only work part time, and I bring in about 350 every two weeks. Should I be paying in quarterly? Any tips for tax time? Thanks in advance for your help.
Taxes as IC
Are you married -- did you have your husband over withold to cover your taxes? Do you have receipts for any programs, computer, etc. that you bought? Do you use part of your house solely for your business? Do you use an internet service for your business, phone? You need to buy Turbo Tax or talk to an accountant if you are unsure as to what to claim and not claim. But anything that pertains to your business is deductible. Turbo Tax takes you through it step by step. Mileage to the bank to deposit, buy supplies, any business related errand is deductile. You will have to pay 15% on your NET income that is why you want as many deductions as you can get. Again, if you are married have your hubbie over withhold even if it is a certain amount of one less deduction if you have kids to cover your taxes. When you see what you owe -- if you do this year you can then divide that by how may pay periods and have him withold that much. But dig for those deductions. E-mail me with any questions.
Taxes (sm)
We used to pay a CPA at the end of the year to do our taxes, claimed all our exemptions, equipment costs, office costs (if applicable), phone, etc.,on a Sched. C for me and my husband's W2, then we both were IC's and he did two Sched. C's and all he did was give us 4 slips for next year's "estimated" tax to send in a check quarterly. If we found we were making more, we were to call him and he would adjust our quarterly payment to more, it usually worked out. If you're an employee, then it will be different, I was self-employed, helped to keep track of all expenses, postage, phone, books, etc., anything to do with my profession. Perhaps you are not an IC but this worked for us, if you have kids, then the acct. would take this into consideration. Perhaps you'll get a "surprise" refund for the "kiddos." Good Luck! Have a "fruitful" year!
Taxes
In 18 years of filing as an IC and owner, have never paid quarterly while married. Always had my husband over withold and even some years had to pay a little (under $500) but they have yet to question (knock on wood). But my income and write-offs always stay about the same, every third year a new computer, then the next a printer, then some transcribers, etc. The government does not care who or where the tax money comes from when filing as a joint return as long as they get it. You are just combining your income as if each of you had a job but you are an I/C instead and don't have someone withholding from your earnings.. I always filed electronically and had my refund within a week. Heck you can borrow the money to pay your taxes and they don't care as long as they get paid.
Patti
taxes
Can anyone give me a list of things that I am able to deduct for working at home. I am new at working at home and need some specifics.
Thank you!!
taxes
Unless you have a special reason for needing to pay H&R Block to do your taxes, you can do free file with H&R Block online. You access it through www.irs.gov. A lot of people don't know that there are companies out there where you can electronically file for free. Most of them don't include free state filings, but my daughter found one last year that did both of hers for free. It isn't a program that is widely publicized. I only found out about it through a tax newsletter that I subscribe to. We have two different businesses this year, though, and I'm not sure I'm going to have the knowledge to do everything, but I'm still going to give it a try. They walk you step by step through the whole process. You answer questions at the beginning and it brings up forms and steps in the order you need to file. It's worth looking into. Actually the IRS has a lot of helpful information regarding filing. Tax Hotline calls it "surprisingly good," and said it's recently been redesigned to make it even more useful. Why pay somebody to do something you can do yourself?
IC - taxes, etc.
Hi, I'm an IC for a company and am considered self-employed. I am having H&R do mine for the first time. I am going to check into deductions for expenses. I am hoping for the best.
Taxes
I have used H&R Block in the past about 4 years ago I think. It was a lot more expensive than I thought it would be, around $200 I think, but I had some extra stuff to do because of some divorce issues and they charged by every form they have to do. But on the other hand it was worth it because it was my first year as IC and after that I just followed what they had done to do the next years' taxes using TaxCut myself.
Taxes
I know for an IC we have to fill out Schedule C and Form 8829 for expenses. But do we HAVE to fill out Part III, depreciation of the house? I only made some $1400 (working very, very, very contingent) so why would I need to do that? I had a lot of expenses, though, to write off as I had computer repair, monitor, foot pedal, etc. Help
Taxes...
You pay the taxes for the state where you reside. You don't have to pay state taxes for the state your company is physically located in. You should receive a 1099 from your client and that is what you use to file your taxes. It may be best to have an accountant do your taxes for you this year just so you get answers and feel confident enough to do your own. Good luck 
taxes
Hi, Pat. I have also been doing a lot of research on home office deductions since this is the first year I have had a mortgage instead of just renting. It is my understanding that if you deduct for portion of your home mortgage interests and taxes for business office that you also have to do the depreciation part too. If you don't fill it in, it will be still be counted in the end as if you did anyway when you sell your home since you took the mortgage deduction and depreciation goes along with it. You wouldn't have to pay taxes on profit of the sale on the business portion of your home since they changed that in the last few years (I think it is something like up to 250,000 profit per single filer) but you would have to pay taxes on the depreciation even if you didn't claim it. Hope this makes some sense. I think it's form 505 on IRS website that has the info. It's all really confusing. Was much simpler when I was renting!!
Taxes again!
Thanks so much for all the good info on taxes! You "guys" are great! What a wonderful source of information over the years on everything--not just transcription. Thanks again all who answered me. You have been a great help.
What % of pay should be set aside to pay taxes for an IC?
Can somebody please tell me what percentage of your pay needs to be set aside for paying your taxes if you are an independent contractor? I certainly appreciate your help.
IC taxes
I agree that 30% should cover, however, I took 30% out of each check this year and I ended up overpaying by a couple thousand. This year I'm taking a bit less out and putting some toward state tax. Also, you can call the IRS. They will spend time with you trying to figure out what to pay quarterly.
taxes
If you had another employee job that made you $4000 gross you still would have added that onto what you made from the other job for a combined income. Also since taxes would have been withheld from that $4000 -- about 25 to 30% you would have not had the use of the entire $4000 just $2800 to $3200 and that equals out to what happened. When you are an employee you still have to pay taxes, someone is just holding them for you and sending them in. So you are not paying anything "extra" other than the 7.5% and you should have been able to come up with at least that in deductions. So it equals out you just had the use of the money and chose not to save part of it for that vacation.
TAXES...
I know that you can use a computer as a deduction for your business, but what happens if my husband wants to build me one instead of buying it in one piece? Would I still get to write it off? He is a big computer person (not for a living) and wants to build my next one instead. He builds peoples computers quite often for them. Will I just keep all the receipts and subtract that or am I better off to buy one from Dell or Gateway or etc?
Thanks for any advise!
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