rookiejay Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 Hello I am working as a locum, and the amount of taxes I am paying is crippling. 49k in 2015 on 108k gross. What can I do to reduce this? I still owe 15k from last year and have not even started paying this year yet. I am married but I can't file that way, I have no kids and my home is in Ireland. I am not living expensive, I don't even have my own shower. I live in a campground to pay the student loans and taxes back as fast as I can. ANY advice would help Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GetMeOuttaThisMess Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 Nothing like doing taxes while seeing patients. 2015 rates/deduction of self-employ. tax, and personal exemption (married filing separately) should leave you with a tax bill <$20K, and that's w/o other itemized deductions like health ins/malp./pers. disability ins.. Something is WAY off here. This is on the gross income of $108K you mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewconvert Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 Hello I am working as a locum, and the amount of taxes I am paying is crippling. 49k in 2015 on 108k gross. What can I do to reduce this? I still owe 15k from last year and have not even started paying this year yet. I am married but I can't file that way, I have no kids and my home is in Ireland. I am not living expensive, I don't even have my own shower. I live in a campground to pay the student loans and taxes back as fast as I can. ANY advice would help Thank you You desperately need to get someone to go over your finances because even with paying both sides of the payroll tax you shouldn't be anywhere NEAR $50k in taxes on $108k in gross earnings. That is functionally a 45.4% effective tax rate.... That's insanity. For reference the marginal tax rate at $108k is only 28%, and that is only on the last $33K you earned, its substantially lower on the other $75k you earned. Even after picking up the other half of your payroll tax you should be somewhere in the 25-30% effective rate area at the highest. I wouldn't be surprised if you have overpaid in the $20-25k range. You need to get a tax guy looking over everything you have submitted for the last year and see if he can amend your return to get some of that money credited forward or refunded and save you from yourself on this years taxes. edit: and you are only making $108k on a 1099 contract?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WanderlustPA Posted November 6, 2016 Share Posted November 6, 2016 You should only be paying an additional 7.65% vs. being an employee. This is half of FICA & Medicare tax, which is covered by the employer if you're an employee. Did you do your own taxes, or hire someone? Definitely a mistake on your tax calculations. Also agree you should be making more than $108k. What is the value of the benefits you're not getting? I saw an ad for a 1099 job offering $90/hr (granted that's just an ad, take it with a grain of salt). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rookiejay Posted December 26, 2016 Author Share Posted December 26, 2016 I hired a woman and to be honest nearly crapped myself when she said that. I paid off 27k in student loans that year. So I lived quite cheaply. ( I can't claim married my husband is not American, he is Irish - no TIN no SSN - no deductions) When I spoke to other locums NONE of them have said they pay these taxes that the employer would have paid. Im sure something is wrong. I am going to be making some phone calls tomorrow. Thanks all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paproof Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Are you an LLC/S-CORP? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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