Tax
Schedule SE (Self-Employment Tax)
The IRS form computing self-employment tax (Social Security + Medicare) for sole proprietors, partners, and LLC members.
Self-employed individuals owe both halves of FICA (12.4% Social Security + 2.9% Medicare = 15.3% combined) on net SE earnings. Schedule SE computes this from your business profit.
Half of the SE tax is deductible as an above-the-line adjustment to income, partially offsetting the additional burden vs. W-2 employees.
Additional Medicare tax (0.9%) applies above $200K (single) / $250K (MFJ) — reported on Form 8959.
Common pitfalls
- Forgetting that S-corp distributions are NOT subject to SE tax — the election is most valuable when business profit exceeds reasonable salary
- Not deducting half the SE tax on Schedule 1 — leaves money on the table
- Ignoring SE tax in quarterly estimated payments and getting hit with an underpayment penalty
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