self employment tax

[Mattparla]

My wife and I are using the desktop version of turbo tax. 

We are being charged self employment tax $2,635.00

We both have llc that elected to be taxed as an S Corp. 

My understanding was that if you are taxed as an s corp, you only pay taxes on profits that the business makes

[Bsch4477]

If you organize your business as an S-corporation, you can classify some of your income as salary and some as a distribution. You'll still be liable for self-employment taxes on the salary portion of your income, but you'll just pay ordinary income tax on the distribution portion.

[GeorgeM777]

Proceed with caution when allocating a portion of your income as salary and a portion as a distribution.  As noted in the previous post, the salaries of shareholders/owners in an S Corp are subject to income tax and self-employment tax whereas distributions are not.  Thus, many are tempted to allocate as much income as they can as a distribution to avoid paying self-employment tax.  An improper allocation may raise a "red flag" with the IRS.  However you decide to structure your allocation, you should collect and maintain detailed records on how you determined your salary amount as reasonable given the nature of your business.  This may require researching similar types of companies in your town/city/state/region to determine what is or what is not a reasonable salary.  

@Mattparla