yes, but isnt he saying "that way you will only have to pay SS taxes on 50%"? (the 50% that he is declaring as wages, is subject to SS taxes.
the other half that is thru profits will flow thru his personal, but it will not be subjected to self employment tax. the issue here is whether or not the salary you declare is reasonable, so dont go too low with this amount or uncle sam will come a-knocking..
Originally Posted by esteban0415
Not using real rates, but let's suppose employers half is 5% and employees half is 5% and self employment tax is 10%.
$100k income. If you're self employed, you pay $10k. Easy enough.
You have a S Corp. You have $50k in profits that is self employment -- $5k in taxes. (And there are reasons not to do this, but we'll skip those.) Now pay yourself the other half of $5k. The S Corp will pay the employers share 5% = $2.5k and you pay the employees half, $2.5k. Total is S Corp pays $7.5 and you pay $2.5 = $10k.
Same either way.
I have heard of people trying to pay themselves dividends or cap gains out of an S Corp, but I'm not sure that you can justify that.