Millions of Big Earners Should Expect Higher Payroll Taxes in ‘17

shutterstock_260489408

 

For those who have been excited to see their tax bill go down under a Trump administration, there might be cause for some concern, especially for some of the country’s highest earners. That’s because for the millions of workers who pass a certain threshold a tax hike is coming. So why the increase?

First, this change was in place before President Trump won the election in November. This scheduled change comes in the form of an adjustment to Social Security payroll taxes, and it will affect a lot of high earners. Over the past several years, workers have paid a 6.2 percent payroll tax to Social Security, which is matched by employers and automatically deducted from their paychecks.

That number will remain the same in 2017, but there is a catch. It used to be that workers only paid that amount on the first $118,500 they earned for the year. This year, that threshold increases to $127,200. That will amount to hundreds of dollars for anyone affected. Meantime, for self-employment workers, the news is even worse because they are forced to pay the full Social Security tax themselves without splitting the cost with an employer.

So how many people are we talking about? Anyone that makes less than $118,500 won’t be affected but the estimated 12 million workers that make more than that will see a hit, which amounts to one of the biggest changes in the tax code in nearly 30 years.

http://time.com/money/4628475/payroll-taxes-social-security-2017/

Posted in
A Thorny Dilemma: The Ethics of Mortgage Walkaways

“C” Corporation versus “S” Corporation Entity Selection Decision

Your “C” corporation versus “S” corporation entity selection decision is often step one when starting a company. This comes up very often. How do we decide on whether to be a “C” Corporation or an “S” Corporation? You might also want to operate as a Limited Liability Company which is much like an S Corporation.…

stock

Best Performing Stocks of 2016

Best Performing Stocks of 2016 Now that 2017 is in full swing, people are looking forward to this coming year, including the investment industry. Which stocks will be the big winners this year and which ones will leave investors shaking their heads? There is a lot still up in the air, especially with all the…

Would a Carbon Tax Make Sense for America?

Would a Carbon Tax Make Sense for America?

Would a Carbon Tax Make Sense for America? By Kent Livingston Unless you don’t own a TV or a computer then at some point you’ve heard the so-called environmental experts and political pundits speak of the dangerous effects of greenhouse gas emissions on global warming. There are two sides to every story, but most people…

Willfully or Not, That Is the Question

Willfully or Not, That Is the Question

Willfully or Not, That Is the Question “I didn’t know; it was an honest mistake.” “No one told me that I had to do that.” “But honestly, I didn’t understand what that meant.” Do these phrases sound familiar? Of course, they could be applied to many different situations in life and most of us have…