Quarterly taxes on self employment income vs. W-2 withholding - which is better?

Hey all, I'm in a weird position with my taxes this year and could use some advice. I've been working as a freelance graphic designer for about 8 months now after leaving my corporate job. I'm making around $3,800-4,500 per month from various clients but haven't paid any quarterly taxes yet (yikes). My husband still has a regular W-2 job where they withhold taxes. We've always filed jointly. I'm trying to figure out if I need to make quarterly payments on my self-employment income or if his withholding might cover enough that we won't get penalized. Does anyone know how this works when one spouse has W-2 withholding and the other has self-employment income? Can his withholding count toward what I'd owe on my freelance stuff? Or do I absolutely need to make those quarterly payments? The IRS website is confusing me more than helping tbh.

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18 comments

Dylan Wright

•8M

You're definitely not alone in this confusion! When you're married filing jointly, the IRS looks at your combined tax situation, not separate obligations. This means your husband's withholding can potentially cover both of your tax liabilities. Here's what you need to consider: If your husband's W-2 withholding will cover at least 90% of your total 2025 tax liability (including your self-employment income) OR 100% of your 2024 tax liability (110% if your AGI was over $150,000), then you don't need to make quarterly payments. To figure this out, estimate your total combined income for 2025, calculate the approximate tax (including self-employment tax on your freelance income), and compare that to what your husband is having withheld. If there's a significant gap, you might want to either increase his withholding or start making quarterly payments.

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Dylan Wright

•8M

For the combined income of roughly $110,000, you'd need to account for both income tax and self-employment tax. Self-employment tax is roughly 15.3% on your net business income (after deductions). So if you're making $45,000-$54,000 annually from freelancing, you'd owe about $6,900-$8,260 in self-employment tax alone, plus regular income tax on that amount. Your husband's $14,000 withholding might cover your regular income tax if that's similar to previous years, but it likely doesn't account for the additional self-employment tax. I'd recommend either increasing his withholding by submitting a new W-4 or starting quarterly payments to cover the difference. This helps avoid underpayment penalties when you file.

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Sofia Torres

•8M

Just wanted to share my experience with a similar situation! I was stressing about quarterly payments vs. my spouse's withholding too. I finally tried https://taxr.ai and it was super helpful for my situation! It analyzed both our incomes and told me exactly how much I needed to pay quarterly vs what his withholding covered. It basically looks at your full tax situation and gives you a clear answer about underpayment risk. For me, it turned out my husband's withholding only covered about 70% of what we needed, so I definitely had to make quarterly payments. The tool even helped calculate exactly how much I needed to pay each quarter.

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Sofia Torres

•8M

It definitely handles multiple streams of income! You can input all your different 1099s and other income sources, and it analyzes everything together. I actually have three different client sources plus some small dividend income, and it incorporated all of that into the calculations. Regarding accuracy, I was skeptical too at first. The difference is this uses actual IRS rules and formulas rather than general estimates. I double-checked its recommendations with our accountant who confirmed they were spot-on. What I like is that it shows you all the calculations so you can see exactly how it arrived at the numbers, unlike some black-box tools.

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Dmitry Smirnov

•8M

Update on my situation - I actually tried https://taxr.ai after my skeptical comment and I'm genuinely impressed! It showed me that my husband's withholding was covering about 85% of our joint liability, which meant I needed smaller quarterly payments than I thought. The tool broke down exactly how the self-employment tax was calculated alongside our regular income tax, which finally made things clear. I was able to set up the right quarterly payment amount and also adjusted my husband's W-4 to increase withholding slightly. According to the analysis, this combination should keep us safely above the 90% threshold to avoid penalties. Wish I'd known about this earlier in the year - would have saved me a lot of stress and confusion!

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Ava Rodriguez

•8M

If you're having trouble reaching the IRS to confirm your specific situation, I highly recommend using https://claimyr.com to get through to an actual person. I spent WEEKS trying to get clarification on my quarterly payment requirements since my situation is similar to yours - I'm self-employed and my wife has W-2 income. After endless busy signals and disconnects, I tried Claimyr and got through to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes. They confirmed exactly what I needed to do regarding my quarterly payments versus my wife's withholding. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - basically saves you hours of hold time and frustration.

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Ava Rodriguez

•8M

It uses a system that navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold for you. When it reaches a live agent, it calls you and connects you directly to them. So instead of being stuck on hold for hours, you just get a call when an actual human is on the line. The reason it works is that it's essentially doing the waiting for you. The IRS is actually reachable, just with incredibly long wait times that most people can't sit through. It saved me around 3-4 hours of hold time based on what the agent told me about their current wait times.

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Zainab Ahmed

•8M

I have to eat my words about Claimyr. I was completely skeptical, but I was desperate to get some answers about my quarterly tax situation, so I tried it. Not only did it work, but I got through to an IRS agent who was actually helpful. The agent confirmed that joint filers need to look at their total tax picture - including both W-2 withholding and self-employment income. She explained that I could either make quarterly payments on my self-employment income OR increase my spouse's withholding through a new W-4. Either way works as long as we hit the 90% threshold for the current year or 100% of last year's liability. Saved myself from penalties and got clarity straight from the source. Still shocked I actually spoke to a human at the IRS.

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Connor Gallagher

•8M

Something important that nobody's mentioned yet - make sure you're tracking all your business expenses properly! This significantly reduces your self-employment income and therefore the quarterly taxes you'd owe. As a freelancer, you can deduct things like home office, portion of internet/phone, software subscriptions, equipment, professional development, etc. Even things like mileage for client meetings. This can easily reduce your taxable self-employment income by 25-30%.

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Connor Gallagher

•8M

For your home office, you can use the simplified method of $5 per square foot (up to 300 sq ft) or the regular method where you calculate the percentage of your home used for business and apply that to your housing expenses. Most freelancers find the simplified method easier unless you have a large dedicated space. As for documentation, keep all receipts and maintain a log that notes the business purpose for each expense. For things like mileage, keep a log of dates, destinations, and business purposes. Digital receipts are fine - just make sure they show what was purchased, date, and amount. The IRS doesn't require you to submit these with your return, but you'd need them if you're ever audited.

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