Categories
Accounting
Banking
Credit
Currency trading
Day trading
Debt consolidation
Investing
Loans
Personal finance
Wealth building
Popular Articles
Natural Remedies

5 Things You Should Know About Choosing a Brokerage Account
When people look for brokerage accounts the first thing they look for is the trading fees, e.g. $7 per trade of £11.95 per trade, as this is the first thing advertised by brokers. However I feel there are 5 other things you need to look out for when choosing a brokerage account...
generic viagra online
Small Business Taxes - How To Pay Less Self-Employment Tax
If you fall into one of these three categories, this article is for you: 1) you own a sole proprietorship; 2) you are a partner in a partnership; or 3) you are the owner of a limited liability company being taxed like a sole proprietorship or a partnership. What do these three types of business owners have in common? They are all faced with the dreaded self-employment (SE) tax on the profits of their business. If you're new to the world of small business taxes, here's a quick review of self-employment tax. Sole proprietors and those taxed like sole proprietors (i.e. partnership partners and LLC owners who have not chosen to be taxed like a corporation) must pay 15.3% of their business profit in SE tax to the federal government. This consists of 12.4% social security tax and 2.9% Medicare tax. In effect, it is the self-employed person's version of the employee/employee federal payroll tax of 15.3%. But here's where frustration begins to rear its ugly head: employees and employers each pay one-half of the 15.3%. The self-employed person must pay the entire 15.3%. So what's a self-employed person to do? There's one particularly effective strategy to legally reduce self-employment tax: choose to be taxed an "S" corporation. Here's how it works. In 2009, the self-employed person pays SE tax on the first $106,800 in profit. Let's assume you make $60,000 profit this year (sales minus expenses). You must pay SE tax on the entire profit, so your SE tax will be $9,180 ($60,000 x .153). But if you choose to be taxed like an "S" corporation, you can legally reduce the SE tax by structuring your compensation as a combination of wages or salary (which you must do now that you are being taxed as a corporation) and a profit distribution payment. Assuming that you can pay yourself reasonable compensation of $35,000 salary, only that salary will be subject to the 15.3% SE tax (which will now be called "payroll tax" rather than SE tax). The remaining $25,000 in profit can still be paid to you whenever you like, but it will not be subject to payroll tax, because only wages/salary are subject to payroll tax in a corporation. End result: the payroll tax on $35,000 will be $5,355. Compare that to the $9,180 in SE tax and you legally reduce your taxes by $3,825. Two important caveats: First, note that it is only SE tax (or payroll tax) that is reduced. This strategy does not reduce income taxes, because regardless of the entity (self-employed or corporation), the entire $60,000 will be subject to income tax. Second, now that you are paying yourself wages/salary as an employee of a corporation, the corporation must do all the paperwork that comes with payroll. You must issue yourself bona fide paychecks (which means that withholding calculations must be done). You must also file all the required federal, state and local payroll tax returns, and make all the required federal, state and local payroll tax payments. This can be quite a mountain of paperwork and you should probably outsource these payroll tasks. This will result in a new expense to hire an accountant or bookkeeper to do payroll, but most small business owners in this situation still come out way ahead.
News of the day
Texas Health Insurance For Pre-existing Conditions
A pre-existing condition is a medical issue that you've had previously prior to getting health insurance. One example of a pre-existing condition is diabetes. In the state of Texas, that would fall under the definition for pre-existing conditions. If you have health insurance in Texas, you may have to wait several months or years before the insurance will pay for claims in regard to that condition.
Loans

Learning the Basics of Auto Insurance

It can seem pretty overwhelming; there are a lot of things to think about when it comes to getting the right coverage for you and your automobile. Drivers are now required to have automobile insurance to be on the road, but knowing what kind of insurance to get, so that your car will be covered sufficiently, but that you can still afford to drive it can be a bit tricky if you aren't at least a little bit educated on the topic. Aside from our houses, our cars are often the most valuable and necessary material belongings in our possession, it's important for all drivers to begin learning the basics of auto insurance if they don't know them already, so they can hit the road with confidence and piece of mind. Liability Having at least some liability coverage is a requirement for driving in all states, the minimum amount necessary does vary a bit from state to state, but it's good to have more than the minimum amount of coverage in the event that you are involved in a serious accident. The two sections of liability coverage cover bodily injury and property damage. Bodily injury liability will cover the medical expenses and potentially the lost wages of people injured during an automobile accident. If your liability coverage is too low to cover the medical expenses of a person you injure in an accident, you may be held responsible for the remainder of the money due - this is precisely the reason that higher liability coverage is better than lower liability coverage. Property damage covers the cost of repair the damage you do to other peoples property in the event of an accident, this could include their automobile, their motorcycle, bicycle, house or whatever else happens to be on the receiving end of the accident. Comprehensive and Collision If you own your car outright, then neither comprehensive or collision coverage is a requirement to operate your vehicle, but depending on your driving record or the neighborhood you live or work in, it may be advisable to at least carry some comp and collision coverage. Collision will cover the damage sustained to your car in the event of an accident that you are deemed the cause of. The amount of your chosen deductible and the level of your collision coverage could have a pretty large affect on your premium - the higher your deductible, the lower your premium and vice versa, so to keep your monthly payment down while still carrying a decent level of collision insurance you'll opt for a higher deductible. Comprehensive insurance will cover any damage sustained to your car that wasn't directly the result of an accident. Acts of vandalism, attempted theft, damage from fire, acts of God and natural disasters are the types of things that comprehensive insurance will take care of for you. Uninsured Motorist Coverage Even though a minimum amount of automobile insurance is a requirement to have your vehicle on the road, that doesn't necessarily mean that everyone operating a vehicle will have it. Uninsured motorist coverage is a requirement in most states and will cover the damages to your vehicle as well as bodily injury in the event that you are struck by a motorist driving without insurance. Personal Injury Protection Personal injury protection coverage covers the cost of treatments for injuries and funeral costs for you or other passengers in a car, or as pedestrians, involved in an accident. At this time personal injury protection coverage isn't required in every state, so depending upon your residence it may not be something that you'll have to worry about. Those are the basic minimum requirements to drive your automobile legally in any state, and though it may seem like a lot to digest, taking a quick overview of your particular vehicle, the environment you operate it in, the amount of driving you do and your personal driving record should allow you to pick out the best possible plan of coverage for your automobile that will have you on the highway without putting too much of a dent in your wallet.


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

© Copyright 2009