My business is an S-Corp and I’m a payrolled employee. I have a total take home of about $320k, $50k in salary with the remainder in distributions from the business. Currently saving around $100k per year for retirement. I use a simple Boglehead index allocation 85 equity 15 bonds which I’ll reduce over time. Current plan is 20 more years of work.
I’ve set my salary at this level in order to maximize tax savings and avoid being double taxed on my payrolled income but lower salary is long run going to reduce my overall Social Security benefits vs a higher one. I’ve been reading that SS is the best annuity available and maximizing it is a good idea.
Additional taxes from a higher salary would reduce my annual savings so I think the question is what would that extra tax cost likely return if it was invested vs. what would the effect be on my eventual benefit if I increased my salary.
I have no idea how to calculate that and it seems like the variables are too complex for any calculation to be worthwhile (eg: market return, inflation, viability of SS long term).
Any suggestions for how you think about this in your business or a good rule of thumb given the complexity of trying to forecast anything this far out?
the other consideration with SS is its function as disability insurance as well. Both medical and income. medical is actually the more important part of it. very little of this matters if you have the work credits. since you are playing with numbers you should figure out where you would be at with benefits if you had a stroke tomorrow and needed SS disability.
Frankly I would be more concerned that the $50,000 salary is not reasonable according to IRS standards and the remainder that you’re taking in dividends would be disallowed.
You need to consult with a CPA, or tax attorney on this question, it is rather intricate
Second this. OP, you ran this by a competent small business CPA? You can double the salary and still sleep better at night.
Our CPA has us adjust our salary each year based on standards from the IRS. She works only with small businesses, but a good note to review it. thx!