@ pedigreed bulldog, i laughed at the irony of your herman cain quote. thanks, it brightened my day.

Always find a good tax professional and attorney when you are self employed. I have paid in 50000 in taxes in the last two years and it get very expensive. Tax wise! Now to those of you who are surprised at this guy Grossing over 200k maybe you need to re-evaluate your business practices, because a truck should gross 5k a week with ease if not your the reason freight rates are cheap. If you run 3500 miles a week at $2.00 that $7000 a week X 4= $28000x12=336000 a year. 1.50 at 3500 miles a week put you over 200k. Stop hauling cheap freight people!!!!!!!!!!! Good keep up the good work it gets better.

Originally Posted by StarBC

In my opinion the "best" biz structure for today is an LLC taxed as S-Corp. But it requires a lot of paperwork & formalities.

When your biz is small you don't see any benefits that's worth that but when you grow you'd see savings in tax.

What I dislike about S-Corp distributions is that you should still make estimated payments to avoid a penalty for under withholding.

Which is only "kind of" true.

My accountant 0-files my first 3 quarterlies - then we look at my YTD #'s, and make the appropriate payroll tax payments in December. As long as your payroll tax liability is covered by the end of 4th qtr, you won't get pinged for under-witholding. OTOH - if you've taken a lot of taxable salary/distributions on the personal side - you could be left with a sizable payroll tax liability to have to come up with in December. We usually review my YTD's in September, to see if I need to "get a cushion" and put something into my 941's before 4th qtr.

My Sub-S grosses about 200K a year (not trucking), but I've never had a year where I've show more than $20K in "income" on my 1040's, and never had a year (in a decade) where my 1040 liability wasn't within $100 (+/-) of what I "put into" my 941 deposits.

Rick

As long as your payroll tax liability is covered by the end of 4th qtr, you won't get pinged for under-witholding.



this statement is not true. i missed a quarterly payment, and overpaid in december, was dinged for not properly withholding, which was deducted from my refund.

Originally Posted by carl larsen

As long as your payroll tax liability is covered by the end of 4th qtr, you won't get pinged for under-witholding.



this statement is not true. i missed a quarterly payment, and overpaid in december, was dinged for not properly withholding, which was deducted from my refund.

You missed a quarterly PAYMENT - or FILING?

As long as you FILE - it's all good - even if it's a ZERO FILING.

A few years ago, I would "space out" and forget to mail my 941's in - even though my accountant sent me all of them. A FRIKKIN MESS I created - even though there was no LIABILITY for those quarters, I ended up having to "negotiate" on the late filing fees.

Now, my accountant has a SIGNATURE STAMP, and I essentially have "no touch accounting" - except when I have to drop a check off for my state unemployment taxes. My 941's are done EFTPS, they email me to make sure I have the $$ in my operating account to cover the deposit.

So yes - MISSING A PAYMENT OR A FILING will get you jammed up - but filing ZERO for the first 3 quarters - then "getting evened up" in December is PERFECTLY LEGAL, and will not get you nailed for "under-witholding", unless you don't calculate it correctly and ACTUALLY UNDER-WITHOLD.

Also - I don't pay myself a "salary" on a regular basis. I take $$ when I need to, as "distributions", and my accountant does my #'s and issues me a W2 as WAGES (and other compensations on another line for reimbursements and carryovers to personal income). But again - when he calculates my 941 withholding from my Sub-S, a MAJORITY of it is the SS/FICA and only enough to cover the liability on my 1040 is made on the "income taxes withholding" side of the equation.

As mentioned - he consistently gets my 1040 within $100, one way or the other, year after year. This is the guy that got me "straightened out", after 17 years of "forgetting to file" - so I think I'll just trust the way he does it...

Rick

Originally Posted by rsconsulting

So yes - MISSING A PAYMENT OR A FILING will get you jammed up - but filing ZERO for the first 3 quarters - then "getting evened up" in December is PERFECTLY LEGAL, and will not get you nailed for "under-witholding", unless you don't calculate it correctly and ACTUALLY UNDER-WITHOLD.


Rick

that's what i did. zero filed third quarter, then got dinged for not properly withholding. made up the amount due in december, but to no avail. you have to pay estimated quarterly payments based on the quarter, not the year. it's not a big ding, and lots of people do it, but estimated taxes are to be paid quarterly. my fine was only $4, i would look at your paperwork closely, i'll bet you are paying the improper withholding fine for doing it that way...$4 a quarter.

Originally Posted by carl larsen

that's what i did. zero filed third quarter, then got dinged for not properly withholding. made up the amount due in december, but to no avail. you have to pay estimated quarterly payments based on the quarter, not the year. it's not a big ding, and lots of people do it, but estimated taxes are to be paid quarterly. my fine was only $4, i would look at your paperwork closely, i'll bet you are paying the improper withholding fine for doing it that way...$4 a quarter.

Honestly brother - haven't paid a penny of fines or fees (or PR Taxes) the 1st 3 qtrs of the year, since I "took myself out of the loop", by giving my accountant a signature stamp.

I KNOW NOTHING - I SEE NOTHING, I HEAR NOTHING.

Seems to be working. OTOH - he's being doing it this way, since I did my Sub-S a decade ago - so I guess no "red flags" come up on my account, since I historically have been 0-filing the 1st 3 of the year...

YMMV...

Rick