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What is tax liability

What Is The Tax Liability For Your Small Business?

Have you ever wondered what is tax liability?Juggling various bills is part of the work of becoming a small business owner. Your company’s taxes are one burden you must bear. The government levies taxes on a variety of facets of your business. To remain lawfully compliant, you must keep track of your small business tax liabilities.

This article will explain what is a tax liability, its function, type and much more. But, before getting into the crux of the text let us make you aware of the latest advancement that the worldwide financial technology platform Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) has announced recently in September 2022— the release of Intuit Tax Advisor (ITA). 

It is a new, practical insights tool for tax professionals to provide tax advice services.
Lacerte, ProConnect Tax, and Intuit Tax Advisor are all fully integrated to offer insights and strategies for the clients of tax professionals.

Highlights of Intuit Tax Advisor include: 1.    Planning & Strategy for Taxes
2.    Integrated and streamlined data
3.    low pricing 

WHAT IS TAX LIABILITY?

What is tax liability? Or in other words, a tax obligation? Tax obligation is defined as the amount of money owed to the government in taxes. In general, as this term is used, it refers to federal income tax liabilities. If your salary is poor enough, you will not owe any taxes. Your statutory deduction would be greater than your net revenue, leaving you with no tax liability to the IRS. Millions of Americans find themselves in this position. They do not pay state income taxes and, in many cases, do not file tax returns.

However, this does not imply that they do not pay any taxes. The majority of people who do not pay federal income taxes pay payroll taxes from their employment. There are also state and municipal taxes, excise taxes, and sin taxes, all of which collect revenue from extremely low incomes.

HOW DOES TAX LIABILITY FUNCTION?

What is tax liability and how does it function? According to the details you provided on Form W-4, your boss most likely withheld a portion of your salary towards taxes throughout the year. They forwarded your withholding to the IRS on your behalf. Line 25a of your 2020 tax return contains this information. 

If you are self-employed, you may have made projected tax contributions over the year, or you may have received any unexpected revenue on which taxes were not withheld. Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals, is used to make these transfers. Line 26 of your 1040 tax return should include the sum you paid. 

To calculate your tax obligation, deduct all of these fees from the amount on line 24. Although your tax debt was $5,000, your net taxes, plus refundable tax deductions, totaled $7,500, you will collect a $2,500 refund. However, if your debt was $5,000 and you just paid $4,000 in net contributions, plus refundable refunds, you’d also owe the IRS $1,000.

WHAT IS THE TAX LIABILITY FOR YOUR SMALL BUSINESS?

Many taxable events will result in tax liability for your business. A taxable case is a transaction that generates tax obligations, such as receiving taxable profits, selling goods, or releasing payroll.

What activities are taxable are determined by the government. Where a taxable incident happens at your business, you must pay the applicable tax authority. The occurrence determines the sum of your tax burden. In general, the tax burden can be calculated as a proportion of the overall taxable event.

Besides the taxes mentioned above, you might have additional tax obligations, such as franchise or excise tax. However, below are some of the most common tax liabilities that many small business owners face. 

TYPES OF TAX LIABILITIES 

  • EARNED INCOME TAX LIABILITY

Do you know what is a federal income tax liability? And what is tax liability of income? An earned income credit (EIC) is a tax subsidy that assists low-income Americans by reducing the amount of tax owed on a dollar-for-dollar basis. If a taxpayer’s tax credit exceeds their tax burden for the year, they will be eligible for a refund. Legislation passed in 2020 acknowledged that owing to the COVID pandemic, many taxpayers’ salaries in 2020 were smaller than their incomes in 2019. This provision requires taxpayers to base the EIC claimed on their 2020 tax returns on either their 2019 or 2020 earnings. 1 The legislation relaxes some EIC laws for 2021 tax returns and makes a larger EIC open to more childless taxpayers.

  • BUSINESS TAX LIABILITY

What is tax liability of a business? Profits earned by the company must be taxed. However, whether you form your company as a sole proprietor, association, S corporation, or LLC (which is not taxed as a corporation), you will take advantage of pass-through taxes. Pass-through taxation means that corporate profits are passed through the company and onto you, which is why you report the business income tax obligation on your income tax return.

When you structure a firm as a C organization, it becomes a different legal body. Your company, being a separate legal body, is required to pay taxes on corporate income. Corporate tax is in addition to the tax you spend on your actual earnings.

Your C Corporation would pay a federal corporate income tax rate of 21%. In addition, the company could be subject to a state corporate tax.

  • SELF EMPLOYED TAX LIABILITY

What is tax liability if you are self-employed? A self-employment tax is a levied tax that a small business owner must pay to the federal government to finance Medicare and Social Security, equivalent to FICA taxes charged by an employer. When a person earns $400 or more in self-employment taxes during the tax year or $108.28 or more from a tax-exempt church, self-employment tax is due. 1 Self-employed individuals who earn less than these rates are exempt from paying tax. 1

IRS Form 1040 Schedule SE2 is used to calculate and register self-employment revenue.

  • PAYROLL TAX LIABILITY

What is tax liability of payroll? Payroll tax is described as the tax withheld, paid, or collected on the employer’s payroll. This includes bonuses, gross salaries, benefits, and every other sort of remuneration given to workers.

Payroll tax is a tax that is collected, paid, or imposed on an employer’s payroll. This covers any aggregate pay, bonuses, perks, or other types of remuneration given to his or her staff. This tax is levied regardless of the employee’s domicile, marital background, or any other personal circumstances. Payroll taxes are taxes that an employer is expected to pay or withhold on behalf of his or her workers.

  • SALES TAX LIABILITY

What is tax liability of sales? Sales tax liability depicts your taxable and nontaxable sales, summing up with the total sales tax you gathered from the customers. Businesses use sales tax liability reports to track sales tax liabilities. Or in other words, the sales tax liability is a liability account that collects taxes from its customers on the government tax authority’s behalf. 

A business is the trustee of these funds and is responsible for remitting them to the state on time. If the company pays a substantial number of income taxes, the government would most likely mandate sales taxes payable once a month. Some jurisdictions encourage funds to be remitted at even more extended periods, such as once a quarter or once a year if the payment is minimal.

The sales taxes payable report will likely be split into several accounts containing only the sales taxes applicable to a specific government agency. For example, one account may be used to store sales taxes for the state government, another for the county government, and another for the local city government. 

Suppose a corporation is expected to raise sales taxes on behalf of many government jurisdictions. In that case, it will be required to store sales tax payable information in a wide variety of accounts.

  • CAPITAL GAINS TAX LIABILITIES 

What is tax liability of capital gains? You are liable to pay taxes on your capital gains. As in, if you sell a property and make a profit out of it, you are responsible for paying capital gains tax to the state.  You can calculate your gain by deducting the purchasing price from the selling price.  The capital gains after selling the assets are called “realized.” This tax is not applicable for unsold investments or “unrealized capital gains.”

  • PROPERTY TAX LIABILITIES 

What is tax liability of property? A business that owns a real estate property is liable to pay property taxes to the local government. Your tax value can vary from others as it entirely depends upon its size. The government reassesses your tax every year. It multiplies your tax rate by the market value of your property and finalizes your property tax liability.  

  • TAX LIABILITIES AND TAX DEDUCTIONS

What is your tax liability and what deductions you are entitled to?Your tax obligations will quickly mount. To further offset the high cost of taxation, the IRS allows you to demand tax deductions on such products. Tax exemptions lower your taxable income, which also results in you paying less in taxes.

You will claim a self-employment tax exemption, which allows you to exclude the employer-equivalent part of your self-employment tax while calculating your AGI.

Interest on a business loan, a savings account, a motorcycle, a home office, and health insurance premiums are also typical tax deductions for small companies.

  • TAX LIABILITIES AND RECORDKEEPING

What is tax liabilities and recordkeeping? Underpaying enough attention to your tax liabilities can become a significant issue. You must be aware of your tax responsibility. You would still have the paperwork to back that up. Records are used to assess your tax liabilities and serve as evidence of whether the IRS audits you.

Collect and save the appropriate sum of income. E.g., per payday, withhold payroll taxes from workers and deposit the withheld taxes in a different bank account.

Keep track of your tax liabilities by recording costs and revenue in your small business accounting books. Keep up to date on tax legislation, so you know how much you owe. Documents should also be kept in the books.

HOW CAN YOU REDUCE TAX LIABILITY?

What would you do if you are not among those who have no income tax burden and wish to reduce your tax bill? There are a few options.

First and foremost, be sure that you are claiming all of the available deductions. This is where tax planning tools (such as TurboTax or H&R Block) or the services of an accountant come in handy, but it is possible to do it yourself.

You should also amend your payroll tax deductions by filing a new W-4 for your boss if you wish to reduce your tax obligation. However, there are several schools of thought about this tax policy. If you withhold very little, you will charge more at tax time. Nobody enjoys the sensation.

On the one hand, you will have more savings in your paycheck over the year, which you will use by saving. However, if you have more deducted from your income taxes, you will lower your tax liability; however, the government will collect the interest on the money over the year, not you.

Donating to charities is another common way to reduce your tax responsibility. Donations of tax-exempt organizations are tax-deductible. A tax loss lowers your net income, which falls into your tax burden. Giving money or other things away is a smart way to reduce your tax bill while still supporting charities close to your heart.

It is essential to provide adequate paperwork on all contributions. Donations, of course, can only be deducted if you want to itemize the gifts rather than take the Standard Deduction. The Standard Deduction is a more significant tax cut for specific households than itemizing, but the mileage can differ.

Saving for retirement is our favorite way to minimize the tax burden and save for the future at Smart Asset. Contributions to 401(k)s, like contributions to deductible standard IRAs, limit the taxable profits. On the other hand, contributions to Roth IRAs are made after-tax dollars and do not minimize the tax liabilities in the grant year.

DO YOU HAVE TO PAY TAX LIABILITIES?

To stop paying interest and fines on the sum before it’s paid off, you must pay the balance on line 37 on your tax return as soon as possible.

The IRS accepts payments electronically via Direct Pay or the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). You can also pay with a debit or credit card at some merchant partners, an electronic funds withdrawal, a bank cable, a check or money order, or even cash.

If you don’t have the money to pay off your liability right now, the IRS provides repayment agreements that you can pay over time. There would be interest and a small fee, but it is preferable to pay overtime rather than forget the mortgage and hope it goes down.

HOW CAN YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR TAXES

A financial planner will assist you in maximizing your taxes to achieve your investing and retirement goals. In 5 minutes, Smart Asset’s free tool connects you with financial advisors in your region. Get started now if you’re able to be paired with local advisors.

Concerned with your ability to understand your taxes? Smart Asset provides a range of online quality taxation services to assist you with managing your taxes. Visit our website today to use our income tax calculator.

If you’re not sure whether the regular deduction or itemized deduction is best for you, you can do some research and math. You can discover that you can save a substantial sum of money in one way or another, so it is wise to inform yourself before the tax return deadline.

CONCLUSION 

We hope to elaborate on what is tax liability, what is a federal income tax liability, what is an income tax liability, how tax liability works, and what tax liability is for small businesses through this article’s medium. We also explained types of tax liabilities which are earned income tax liability, business tax liability, self-employed tax liability, payroll tax liability, sales tax liability, capital gains tax liabilities, property tax liabilities, tax liabilities and tax deductions, tax liabilities, and recordkeeping, how can you reduce tax liabilities, and do you have to pay the tax liability. Eventually, we shared some tips to understand your taxes.

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By : June 6, 2021
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