Occupational Therapy Continuing Education
Q: I'm a contract Occupational Therapist working for a partial
hospitalization program. I just started at the beinging of
February. I was told that you have to file taxes quaterly if
you do contract work. I was also told that becoming a
corporation would help. I'm very confused about everything.
I was going to go talk to an accountant about exactly what
all I need to do about filing my taxes for the first quater
of this year. But seeing as how I'm just out of school and
I've never really had to do this before, does anyone have
any advice on what I should ask the accountant....or just
any general observations about what works best and what
doesn't would be appriciated.
A:It looks like the hospital's program is going to treat you
as a self-employed person (contract labor). You'll receive
a Form 1099 that reports the amount paid to you. From this
amount you can deduct any business related expenses you
incur in providing the services of being a therapist. You
may have mileage, licensing, continuing education,
professional dues & publications, uniforms, etc. You are
responsible for paying your own taxes (federal, Social
Security, Medicare and your state). This is what they mean
by "file taxes quarterly". Quarterly estimates are due in
April, June, September and January (your state may have
different due dates). The estimated taxes must be
sufficient in amount to avoid any penalty for underpayment
of taxes.
You may be able to cut some