I have a small business I opened around July and have net around $30,000. I am trying to get a financial advisor but everyone seems to be on thanksgiving break since last friday. As I understand it the IRS see’s Single member LLC’s as a disregarded entity and everything is taxed as personal income. So do you pay your personal income tax bracket rate, in addition to a small business tax rate?

I have a separate business bank account and have not taken any wages to date, however I am about to. My wife and I will fall in the 12% tax bracket as our joint income will be below $89,000 for the year. I am about to transfer $14k to my personal bank account as wages, but am trying to

I vaguely remember seeing that there is a small business tax of 18% on profits for sole member LLC’s. Does this mean I am taxed at 18%, and then an additional 12% on my wages that I transfer to my personal bank account?

  • ParadoxObscuris@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    I am making the assumption that you are a sole proprietorship that did not take the S Corp election.

    An LLC is a legal entity that is disregarded for the purposes of taxation in the eyes of the IRS. You are a pass-through entity. This means that any income earned in the process of business is taxed at the self employment level. You pay both halves of the employer/employee FICA tax as well as your personal income federal and state withholding rate.

    All of your business income is treated this way. Income earned this way is taxed regardless if you put it in your personal bank account or leave it in the business bank account. You do not have “wages”, you have draws. Your taxable business income is reduced by ordinary and necessary expenses incurred in the operation of your business. Accounting software is useful for this purpose.

    Happy to answer any other questions.

  • Its-a-write-off@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    There is no federal small business tax.

    There is social security and Medicare taxes on earned income, in addition to income tax. W2 worker or self employed, the income is subject to these taxes. When you are a s2 employee your employer pays half. When you are self employed, you pay both halves. This is effectively 14.4%. Then in addition to that you pay whatever your effective federal and state income tax rates are.

    The self employed person pays less tax overall, on a 1.00 of earned income, than the employer and employer together pay on a 1.00 of w2 income.

    You will pay the same amount of tax on this income you earned regardless of if you leave it in the business bank account or transfer it to your personal account. It’s all your income, either way.

  • LavenderAutist@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    You need to pay FICA taxes out of your salary.

    I don’t think just sending $14,000 to your personal bank account is the best idea. So if you can wait to speak to your CPA, then do that.

    You shouldn’t be speaking with a financial advisor about this unless they are a CPA or EA.

  • JeffSharon@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    The LLC is a legal entity, has nothing to do with taxation.

    All income is passed through to you as a tax payer and you pay your income bracket, that’s in addition to the 15.3% self-employment taxes.

    In the future and if you grow substantially, you may want to apply (and file) as an S-Corp, that way you can shield some of the income from that 15.3% self-employment tax on whatever percentage you elect to take as distribution instead of income.

  • Bow-Masterpiece-97@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    The salary part will have payroll taxes taken out, in addition to income taxes.

    The profit (whether you cash it out or leave it in the business) will flow over to you and you will pay Fed income tax on that just like it was regular income.

    You’ll just get the benefit of not paying payroll taxes on the profit part.

  • KFIjim@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Yes to all the advice here that as a single member LLC, your net profit from the business passes through to your personal 1040 on Schedule C. You do have to pay both the employee and employer share of FICA and Medicare in the form of SE tax in addition to your federal and state taxes.

    You should also be making quarterly 1040-ES payments (estimated tax) based on your projected income. Making a single lump-sum payment at year end may incur late penalties.