Business Taxes
If you have a business, either sole prop, S corp, C corp, partnership or LLC, You have some type of business taxes you will have to pay. In addition to income taxes, you may have to pay self-employment tax, employment taxes, excise tax. You may also have state taxes, both income and or sales tax. These vary by state and you will need to check with your state department of revenue.
- Income taxes are due annually and what return you file depends on your business structure. See the IRS Website for more information. Remember that taxes are pay-as-you-go and if you will owe taxes, you should pay your estimated taxes quarterly. For more information see the estimated tax section of the IRS website.
- Self employement tax is determined when you file your 1040 and is based on the amount of income generated by your business. You file a schedule SE along with you schedule C.
- Excise taxes are due if you manufacture or sell certain products, operate certain types of businesses, use certain types of equipment, facilities or products or receive payment for certain services. If you need additional information on excises see IRS Publication 510.
- Employment taxes are a combination of the federal and Social Security/Medicare taxes you take our of your employees taxes and the portion you as an employer pay for Social Security/Medicare. It also include the Federal Unemployment tax.
The last category is the one I see most business owners have trouble with. If you withhold these taxes from you employees pay, you MUST deposit them as required. Deciding to forgo paying these and using this money for other purposes, is basically stealing and the IRS is extremely intolerant of this. Even if you have a corporation, these taxes can be assessed to you personally, if you have not paid them as required.
If you or your corporation has problems with unpaid employment taxes, you may want an Enrolled Agent or CPA to represent you before the IRS. At Effectur, we help clients everyday deal with this type of issue.