Is social security and medicare tax paid for employee deductible?

[singh]

My client is self-employed. He made W2 for one of his employee. Can I deduct the social security tax (6.2%) and medicare tax(1.45%) he paid for his employee? I guess he can only claim the Estimated tax he paid. 

[dascpa]

When filing the Schedule C report the employer FICA, FUTA and SUI as Payroll Tax Expense.

[abctax55]

I guess he can only claim the Estimated tax he paid. 

Just to clarify, your client's estimated tax payment are NOT a Sch C deduction.

Payroll tax however are deductible on Sch C.

[IRonMaN]

These kinds of questions always scare me.  Sometimes we need to stick with what we do well and refer folks elsewhere when we are swimming in cloudy waters.

[PATAX]

@IRonMaN 👍 my pop bottles see a lighthouse over those cloudy Waters. The lighthouse has painted on it: CPE. This is a lighthouse we should all see.

[IRonMaN]

I went to the Dirty Harry School Of Business:

"A man's gotta know his limitations"  

There are certain things that I won't mess with and I'm not afraid to tell someone "I don't know."

[qbteachmt · Accepted solution]

Your taxpayer isn't going to include Estimate Tax payments as a business deduction or expense. Those are personal payments.

As you work through their tax form, you get to the point where you see the amount of Taxes owed. Then there is a section for various credits to be applied against the amount owed. That includes any prepayments that were made, whether that is from Estimate or Withholding. These are Prepayments. They are not Taxes.

That gets you to the part where the taxpayer either has a Refund owed to them, or a Balance they owe to the IRS.

You might want to review any places you maybe did this incorrectly.

As an Employer, your taxpayer should have had Payroll activity for that employee, which would include Fed and State such as FUTA is Federal Unemployment (employer-paid only), but SUTA or SUI (State) can be a mix. It depends on that taxpayer's State. You should get with a payroll mentor to review how payroll flowed for that taxpayer's business entity, to confirm it is correct and to help you know what is Business expense and what is not (gross payroll vs net). You mention W2. What about W3, 940, 941/944, State reporting?

[singh]

Thank you so much for the detailed explanation.

[singh]

Thank you for the information. It is of great help.

[singh]

Thank you.