income tax and social security tax questions please help

[florida2001]

Hi, I have few questions and I hope somebody can help me. Me and my husband have small company incorporation and we are both independent contractors. He works for floor maintenance company and he is getting checks 2x a month. I'm working for myself - cleaning houses part time and going to school. Additionally to this I have few investments.
For tax purposes and planning retirement in the USA what would you recommend? Would it be better for my husband to have his checks written on his name or company name and the same for me? How to pay social security tax? we are planning to file jointly income tax. Does anybody knows how long do you need to work in USA in order to be eligible for retirement?

thank you

[vangogh]

If your business is set up as a corporation then the business pays you and your husband as employees. You don't really have a choice who to make the check out to. Checks that come into the business would be paid to the company name and checks to your and your husband would use your names.

As far as retirement goes you can retire any time you want to. If you're asking about when you can collect social security, I think the retirement ages are 62-70. The earlier you retire the less you would receive and whatever you receive is based on your work history and what you've paid into the system. A good place to research is the Social Security website (http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/#sb=2). The link takes you a section about retirement.