K-1 vs W-2. Are there any tax advantages partners get for filing k-1? I'm curious what the net impact is % wise to gross pay and whether or not it's consistent with standard w-2 pay

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An equity partner, as an owner of the firm, files a K-1. The biggest tax impact is having to pay both sides of FICA (or self employment tax), vs just paying half of it as a W-2 employee. The second big change is higher state tax liability as you have to pay in more states. Third disadvantage is as an owner your health insurance is no longer subsidized. So you pay the whole thing. For me with a large family, that is significant. Typically 4-6x what you would pay as an employee.

While there are some tax “advantages”, they are all dwarfed by the above. The advantage as a partner comes in your total compensation and not from the tax structure.

Thank you for the clarification, that makes sense. In terms of percentage of your gross pay, what would you say your net pay is? Excluding pre-tax retirement contributions.

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Well, you can easily look up the FICA plus other payroll tax impact — it’s not quite ten points on the first ~150k.

I think this take overstates the disadvantages a bit. Everyone pays both sides of FICA, in a sense — if your employer pays it for you those are dollars spent on your comp that go to taxes instead of your wages. The state tax thing is annoying (and complex) but the income is taxed where the revenue is recognized, and in some sense it means partners living in lower tax states get to benefit from revenue earned in higher tax jurisdictions while partners in higher tax states get to benefit when they don’t have to pay the high tax on revenue earned in lower tax jurisdictions.

The health insurance point is true, but again the subsidy and the tax treatment are separate issues. The firm subsidy paid on health benefits to employees, like the other side of FICA, is really your wages anyway. The full cost of the health benefit is tax deductible unless you have access to a standard employee plan through another avenue (typically, your spouse’s employee benefits).

It’s annoying and complex and often frustrating, and there are few real benefits, but it’s not THAT bad.s

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