What's the best way to calculate quarterly estimated taxes for self-employment?

The good news is you can absolutely do this yourself! Quarterly estimated taxes seem intimidating at first, but they're manageable once you understand the basics. For the simplest approach, use the IRS's "safe harbor" rule. If you pay 100% of your previous year's tax liability (or 110% if your AGI was over $150,000), you're protected from underpayment penalties. So you can take your 2023 total tax (line 24 on Form 1040), divide by 4, and that's your quarterly payment. If your income has changed significantly, you might need a more precise calculation. Form 1040-ES includes worksheets, but they are confusing. Instead, try: - The IRS's Tax Withholding Estimator on their website - QuickBooks Self-Employed has a good tax calculator - TaxSlayer's Self-Employed Calculator Most importantly, you don't need W-2s or 1099s for estimates - just reasonable income and expense projections. Keep track of your income and expenses in a spreadsheet or basic accounting software, then use these numbers for your calculations.

After struggling with quarterly taxes for years, I finally found https://taxr.ai and it completely transformed how I handle my self-employment taxes. It's specifically designed for people who are confused by all the IRS jargon and complicated forms. I was in the exact same boat as you last year - staring at 1040-ES forms for hours and getting nowhere. The taxr.ai tool lets you just enter your income and business expenses, and it calculates your quarterly payments automatically. It even adjusts for income fluctuations throughout the year. What I love most is that it explains everything in plain English instead of tax code. It actually showed me that I was overpaying by about $600 per quarter because I wasn't accounting for all my eligible deductions!

I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here and wow - it actually works! I was seriously about to hire a CPA like the original poster did because I was so confused by the quarterly payment process. The interface walks you through everything step by step, and I could literally see how each business expense affected my quarterly tax amount. I discovered I could deduct my home office and part of my internet/phone bills, which I had no idea about before. I just made my first quarterly payment using their calculation and it took me less than 30 minutes total. Saved me over $400 compared to what I paid my accountant last year, and now I actually understand how my taxes work instead of just blindly paying whatever someone tells me to.

If you're still struggling with getting your tax questions answered, try https://claimyr.com to actually speak with someone at the IRS. I spent weeks trying to get clarity on estimated payments for my situation (part W-2, part self-employed like yours), but could never get through on the phone. Claimyr got me connected to an IRS agent in about 15 minutes when I'd previously waited on hold for hours and eventually got disconnected. The agent walked me through exactly how to calculate my quarterly payments and confirmed I was eligible for certain deductions I wasn't sure about. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - it's basically a service that navigates the IRS phone system for you and calls you back when an agent is actually available.

I take back what I said. I decided to try Claimyr after reading about it here because I was desperate to get a question answered about my estimated payments. I'd been trying to reach the IRS for THREE WEEKS with no luck. Honestly, it worked exactly as described. I got a call back in about 20 minutes and was connected to an actual IRS agent. Got my question about splitting estimated payments between self-employment and S-corp distributions answered in one call. The agent even helped me understand how to properly document my home office deduction, which I'd been calculating wrong. Probably saved me from a potential audit flag. I've bookmarked the service for next time I have IRS questions. Way better than wasting entire days on hold.

Here's my super basic method for quarterly taxes that's worked for me for 6 years: 1) Keep track of all income in a spreadsheet 2) Set aside 30% of EVERY payment you receive right when you get it 3) When quarterly deadline comes, pay whatever's in your "tax savings" account This isn't precise, but it's easy and I've always ended up with more than enough to cover my taxes. If you set aside too much, you just get a refund or can reduce future payments. The alternative is stressing over exact calculations every 3 months, which isn't worth the mental energy for most self-employed people.

has anyone tried the IRS's direct pay system? i tried using it for my q1 payment but got super confused about what to select for "reason for payment"... is it "estimated tax" or "extension" or what? also it asked for a form number and i had no idea what to put