Sole Proprietorship Taxes

One of the advantages of a sole proprietorship is its simplicity. You do not separate taxes for your business, you simply report all of your business income and losses on your personal income tax return. Below is an overview of filing your taxes as a sole proprietorship.

Estimating Your Sole Proprietorship Taxes

Unlike a traditional employee, as a sole proprietor you don't have anyone withholding income taxes from your paycheck. This means that it is your job to estimate how much you'll owe in taxes at the end of each year. You will then make quarterly payments based on your estimations to the IRS and, if required, to your state as well. You are always ultimately responsible for having enough money to pay your taxes, so it pays to be somewhat conservative with your estimates.

Filing Your Sole Proprietorship Taxes

Your sole proprietorship's profits are treated as simple income on your personal income tax return, but with a few caveats. First, you will be taxed for the full profits of your business, even if you have not personally withdrawn the money. That means that even if the money is being held in a company account and may not be presently accessible, you are taxed as if it were in your personal account and the money were freely available. Second, in addition to a traditional personal income tax statement, you will have to fill out a Schedule C (detailing your profits or losses) and a Schedule SE (see the information on self-employment taxes below) which you submit alongside your 1040 income tax return to the IRS.

In a sole proprietorship, you can take business deductions just like with other forms of business. This means that you can deduct things such as operating expenses and advertising, as well as business-related travel and entertainment (though be very careful to ensure it really is business-related). Start-up costs, such as buying business equipment, can also typically be deducted.

To take advantage of deductions, however, you will need to keep meticulous records. People often try to take advantage of this system and start calling everything "business related." The IRS knows this. If you're going to take a deduction, you should be able to demonstrate to the IRS that it was a legitimate business expense.

Finally, it is smart to keep separate accounts for your personal and business expenses. This will help you maintain clear, business-only records. Just as importantly, this will also demonstrate to the IRS if they ever audit you that you tried to separate your business expenditures from your personal ones.

Paying Self-Employment Taxes

As a sole proprietor, you must pay self-employment taxes (contributions to Social Security and Medicare). Employees have this deducted from their paychecks, but as a sole proprietor, it is up to you to make these contributions while paying your income taxes. You will report your self-employment taxes on a Schedule SE which is submitted along with your Schedule C (see above) and 1040 income tax return.

A real significant difference between a sole proprietor and an employee, however, is that the sole proprietor will have to pay the full contribution, whereas employees only pay half because their contributions are matched by their employers. This can be largely offset, however, because sole proprietors can deduct up to half of the total cost of these contributions.

Consider Incorporating Your Business for Tax Reasons

Finally, it pays to compare how a sole proprietorship is taxed to how other business forms are taxed to make an intelligent decision about how to run your business. The primary difference in tax treatment is that sole proprietorship profits are treated as personal income, whereas corporations are taxed separately.

Because sole proprietorship income is taxed as personal income, the tax amount depends on your personal income tax bracket. The more your company makes, the more personal income you have, and the higher your rate of taxation will be. Corporations, however, are not only taxed separately, but also typically have lower tax rates than personal income. You will often end up paying fewer taxes by incorporating your business than running it as a sole proprietorship.

For example, suppose your business made $200,000 in profits last year. A corporation would be taxed something like 15% on the first $50,000, and then 25% on the remaining $150,000. As personal income however, that same $200,000 would likely push you into a tax bracket higher than 25%. In many scenarios, you would end up owing significantly more taxes as a sole proprietor than as a corporation.

Despite the fact that many businesses would owe fewer taxes as a corporation, balance that against the added time and expense of having to prepare corporate taxes. For smaller businesses, any tax savings may be outweighed by the cost and complexity of filing a corporate tax return.