Quarterly Tax Estimator
Freelancing means nobody withholds for you. Enter your expected profit and get a planning number for each of the four IRS payments — self-employment tax and federal income tax included.
Net profit = 1099/self-employment income minus business expenses. Uses 2025 federal figures and assumes this is your only income with the standard deduction.
Estimates use 2025 federal figures: 15.3% SE tax on 92.35% of net profit (Social Security portion capped at $176,100), the deduction for half of SE tax, the standard deduction, and ordinary income brackets. Credits, other income, retirement contributions, and the QBI deduction aren't modeled.
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The estimate is the easy part — the hard part is having the money sitting there on June 15. Finance OS tracks your income, expenses, and tax set-asides all year so each quarterly payment is already funded.
See Creator Finance OS →Quarterly taxes without the panic
When you're self-employed, no employer is quietly sending the IRS a slice of every paycheck — you're the payroll department now. The system expects four estimated payments a year, and the math behind them is less mysterious than it looks: one payroll-style tax, one income tax, divided by four.
The two taxes in the number
Self-employment tax is the big surprise for new freelancers: 15.3% covering Social Security and Medicare, applied to 92.35% of your net profit — it exists even in years your income tax is small. Federal income tax then stacks on top, calculated after the standard deduction and the deduction for half your SE tax.
A percentage habit beats a lump-sum scramble
Divide your estimated annual total by your expected income and you get a set-aside percentage — for many freelancers it lands somewhere between 20% and 30%. Move that slice of every payment you receive into a separate tax account the day it arrives, and the quarterly due dates become transfers instead of emergencies.
When income is unpredictable, use the safe harbor
If this year is impossible to predict, pay 100% of last year's total tax (110% if you earned over $150k), split across the four dates. That's the IRS safe harbor — hit it and you won't owe an underpayment penalty even if this year ends up bigger.
Who has to pay quarterly estimated taxes?
Generally, anyone who expects to owe $1,000 or more in tax on income that isn't withheld — freelancers, contractors, Etsy and online sellers, landlords, and other self-employed people. Instead of an employer withholding each paycheck, you send the IRS four payments a year yourself.
When are quarterly taxes due?
The usual federal due dates are April 15, June 15, and September 15 of the tax year, and January 15 of the following year. If a date lands on a weekend or holiday it shifts to the next business day. Note the quarters aren't even — the second covers only two months.
What is the safe harbor rule for estimated taxes?
You generally avoid an underpayment penalty if you pay at least 90% of this year's tax or 100% of last year's tax (110% if your prior-year adjusted gross income was over $150,000), spread evenly across the quarters. If your income is hard to predict, paying to the prior-year safe harbor is the low-stress strategy.
Is this quarterly tax estimator accurate?
It's an estimate built on 2025 federal figures — the 15.3% self-employment tax on 92.35% of net profit, the deduction for half of SE tax, the standard deduction, and the ordinary income brackets. It doesn't know your credits, other income, retirement contributions, or QBI deduction, so treat it as a planning number and confirm with a tax professional.