Question – I need to see if I understand this: as an s Corp with only me, I should take a reasonable pay on which unemployment, social security, and tax withholding are deducted. The remaining profit in the s corp is taken as a distribution and passed through to personal income tax with no self-employment taxes incurred.
- 1. Does the salary need to be processed through a payroll service to be legit or can I do the salary by writing myself a check and making the tax payments myself to the appropriate agencies?
- 2. When setting up a Keogh to shelter some income from the s Corp, what do I need to know in terms of percentages allowed, how to set up, are Keogh payments pre or post-tax?
Answer – For number 1 you can do the calculations yourself. Personally, a payroll service (or at least software) is much faster and more accurate. #2 is an “ask your CPA” type question as there are a lot of questions that need to be answered to get this right.