Tax Season is Here!
I'm not a fan of taxes... I'm not sure anyone is. But more than the actual money involved the process of figuring it all out is.. in the very least, confusing.
A couple of things I've learned.
Filing your business taxes:
If your company is an LLC- you file your losses and income as part of your individual tax return.
If you company is an S-corp- you need to file your corporate taxes by March 15th, and then include a shareholder form along with your personal taxes, due on April 15th.
If you file an extension you need to estimate the taxes you would owe, and pay them on the date they were originally due.
About your IRA:
For tax year 2012, the limit that you can put into your Roth IRA and IRA combined is $5,000. But that begins to fade out once you start making more than $110,000 a year.
You can deduct the money you put into your traditional IRA from your taxable income. This is what people call a 'tax deduction'. The money you put into a Roth IRA is included in your taxable income, but when you take it out in your retirement you do not have to pax taxes on it twice. Traditional IRA money will be taxed at your income rate when you are older (whatever that may be).
Wondering which kind of IRA to put your money into?
If you do not make a lot of money and your tax rate is very low and are expecting a tax refund, you should put your money into a Roth IRA. This is because you aren't losing money from taxes anyway, and later when you having more money, you won't get taxed on those earning.
If you are in a higher tax bracket and the $5,000 deduction would save you $1000 or more in taxes, you mean as well take that savings now and put the money into your traditional IRA.
Source: Advice from my dad, and http://www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/03/012203.asp
How does a tax bracket work, and what is my tax rate?
Here are the official tax rates based on income from the 2012 tax year.
Our federal income tax brackets reflect marginal rates, not a rate that is applied to your entire income. Here’s a quick example based on current income tax rates…
For a married couple filing jointly in 2012, the 10% tax bracket covers income from $0 to $17,400. From $17,400 to $70,700 the tax rate is 15%. And from $70,700 to $142,700 the tax rate is 25%. A couple with a taxable income of $100k will be in the 25% tax bracket, but they won’t have to pay 25% in federal income taxes on the full amount. Rather, they’ll pay just 10% on the first $17,400, 15% on the next $53,300, and 25% on the last $29,300. This works out to $17,060, or an effective rate of just over 17%.
Note: I'm not a tax professional, and these are just what conclusions I've come to based on my research.
A couple of things I've learned.
Filing your business taxes:
If your company is an LLC- you file your losses and income as part of your individual tax return.
If you company is an S-corp- you need to file your corporate taxes by March 15th, and then include a shareholder form along with your personal taxes, due on April 15th.
If you file an extension you need to estimate the taxes you would owe, and pay them on the date they were originally due.
About your IRA:
For tax year 2012, the limit that you can put into your Roth IRA and IRA combined is $5,000. But that begins to fade out once you start making more than $110,000 a year.
You can deduct the money you put into your traditional IRA from your taxable income. This is what people call a 'tax deduction'. The money you put into a Roth IRA is included in your taxable income, but when you take it out in your retirement you do not have to pax taxes on it twice. Traditional IRA money will be taxed at your income rate when you are older (whatever that may be).
Wondering which kind of IRA to put your money into?
If you do not make a lot of money and your tax rate is very low and are expecting a tax refund, you should put your money into a Roth IRA. This is because you aren't losing money from taxes anyway, and later when you having more money, you won't get taxed on those earning.
If you are in a higher tax bracket and the $5,000 deduction would save you $1000 or more in taxes, you mean as well take that savings now and put the money into your traditional IRA.
Source: Advice from my dad, and http://www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/03/012203.asp
How does a tax bracket work, and what is my tax rate?
Here are the official tax rates based on income from the 2012 tax year.
Our federal income tax brackets reflect marginal rates, not a rate that is applied to your entire income. Here’s a quick example based on current income tax rates…
For a married couple filing jointly in 2012, the 10% tax bracket covers income from $0 to $17,400. From $17,400 to $70,700 the tax rate is 15%. And from $70,700 to $142,700 the tax rate is 25%. A couple with a taxable income of $100k will be in the 25% tax bracket, but they won’t have to pay 25% in federal income taxes on the full amount. Rather, they’ll pay just 10% on the first $17,400, 15% on the next $53,300, and 25% on the last $29,300. This works out to $17,060, or an effective rate of just over 17%.
Note: I'm not a tax professional, and these are just what conclusions I've come to based on my research.
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