1. What is Self-Employment Income?

Self employment income can be any income that you earn as an independent contractor, a freelancer, or even money that comes in from a hobby. You don’t need to make much to be considered self-employed by the IRS.

2. What Business Expenses Can You Deduct?

The good news is that you can deduct any expenses that you incur to create income. Many people have expenses for items that are used for both business and personal, such as computers and internet costs. In those cases the IRS allows you to take a prorated amount as a deduction. Keep a log showing how much is business use, and how much is personal use to come up with your prorated deduction amount.

3. What is Self-Employment Tax?

When you work for someone else as an employee you have social security taxes deducted from your paycheck. Your employer pays an additional amount. When you are self-employed you pay both parts yourself as self-employment tax.

4. How Do You Report Self-Employment Income?

If you are not a corporation or a partnership you will report your self employment income and expenses on Schedule C. It is filed at the end of the year with your Form 1040. However, taxes are due through out the year. Estimated taxes are paid with form 1040-ES.

5. Where Can I Find More Information on Taxes and Self-Employment?

The IRS has many great resources to help self-employed people with their taxes. Start with these links from the IRS.

• Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business
• Publication 535, Business Expenses
• Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax

Struggling with credit card debt can cast a black cloud over every aspect of your life. The longer you stay in debt, the more damage you’ll end up doing to your credit rating. That in turn will make it harder to get a loan in the future for important borrowing like a home mortgage. Not to mention that fact that debts limit your spending power in the present, restrict your options, and generally have a negative effect on your emotions and outlook.

So it pays to get on top of your debts as soon as possible – but how? Here are a few tips you can start applying today to turn your debt situation around.

Negotiate with Your Lender

In many cases you can actually negotiate with your credit card company in order to make paying your debt easier. There are several options available here – for example, you may be able to have your interest rate lowered. You may be able to extend the period you have to pay before you start incurring more penalties, or you may be able to have some fees waived altogether. In any case, the first step is to contact your lender and see if there’s a way you can reduce the burden of the debt.

Pay the Most Expensive Debt First

If you have multiple credit card bills, you need to work out which one is costing your the most in interest and focus solely on paying that bill first. That’s the fastest strategy for paying off the debt. You know to work out which bill is costing you the most in interest – the sooner you pay that bill, the less interest you’ll incur and the lower the overall amount you have to pay back will be.

Make Debts the Priority

Often people end up in credit card debt to begin with because they can’t manage their money and try to live beyond their means. If you have bad financial habits, they’re the reason you’re in debt – and they’ll keep you in debt if you don’t change them. You’ll need to develop the self-discipline to say no to non-essentials until you have your debts handled. If you’re in debt, don’t go spending money on concert tickets and most definitely don’t take on any more debts.

Debt should only be used for things that will help you get to a better financial position in the future – things like buying a house, starting a business or getting an education. If you take out a new debt every time you want to buy a consumer item on impulse – new shoes, a car, a holiday – you’ll just keep digging yourself into a deeper hole.

Summing Up

Credit card debt may seem like it’s impossible to beat, but with a few phone calls to your credit card company and a change in your financial habits and mindset, you can start turning your life around from today.

How Often Do You Pay Estimated Taxes?

As an employee, your employer takes taxes out of each and every paycheck. When you are your own boss, you need to pay the IRS, not just on April 15, but three other times during the year.
Estimated tax payments are due on:

1. April 15 for income earned from January through March
2. June 15 for income earned April through May
3. September 15 for income earned June through August
4. January 15 for income earned September through December of the previous year

Income Taxes, Self-Employment Taxes, Quarterly Taxes? Which is it?

The taxes you pay as a self-employed business owner go by many different names, one of which is quarterly estimated tax payments. I find this kind of funny, because as you can see from the list above, the taxes are not paid every three months, rather they are paid four times a year on a rather random schedule. I have yet to find out why this is.
When you are self employed, your estimated tax payments are actually for two different taxes, income taxes and social security taxes. Social security taxes are often called self-employment taxes when talking about self-employed individuals. This is because as an employee, you pay 1/2 your social security and medicare taxes and your employer pays the other 1/2. When you are your own boss, you get to pay the full amount! Lucky you.

So, to answer the question, the answer is all of the above. Your quarterly estimated taxes are made up of income taxes and social security taxes. They are paid four times a year, but are not equally space out.

How Much Should You Pay

Ideally, four times a year you would calculate your income for the previous time period, estimate your income and social security taxes, and pay that amount. A quick estimate of the amount you should pay would be your federal income tax rate, plus 15% for self-employment taxes, times your net income. For example, if you are in the 15% federal income tax bracket, your estimated tax payment will be about 30% of your net income. Net income is all the money that came in, minus the expenses that you paid to earn that money. As a very rough guide, I find that most of my clients do OK when they pay 15 to 20% of their gross income. Gross income, simply stated, is all the money that your earned. If you want to be more exact, you can use this IRS Estimated Tax Worksheet to calculate how much you should pay each year.

This video has some good information on easy ways to track and save for your estimated tax payments.

How Do I Pay My Estimated Taxes

There are two ways to pay your estimated tax payments. One way is to use paper coupons provided by the IRS, and mail your payments to the IRS. Be sure to write your social security number on your check. The IRS Estimated Tax Worksheet has payment coupons and the addresses for where to mail your payment.

The IRS would prefer it if you would use their Electronic Federal Tax Payment System. At this website, once you register, you can easily make your tax payments from your computer. You can even schedule your tax payments to happen automatically.

Can I Pay My Taxes More Often?

It might seem like a silly question, but you would be surprised by how many people would like to pay their taxes more often. By paying your estimated taxes monthly, or even weekly, the payment amount is smaller, and many people find it easier on their budgets if they pay their taxes more often than quarterly.
Yes it is OK to pay your taxe more often, just print additional tax payment coupons, or use EFPTS, the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System to make a payment whenever you want.

What If I Miss A Payment, or Can’t Make A Payment?

Don’t worry about it too much. If you miss a payment the IRS is not going to come looking for you. Just make the payment as soon as you can. You may be penalized for paying late, or for not paying enough, but if you pay as much as you can as soon as you can, the penalty will be minimized.
If the reason you can’t make a payment is that you don’t have any income, then you really don’t need to worry about it. (At least not the taxes. ) No income means that no taxes are due.

I’ve Paid My Estimated Taxes, Now What?

When it is time to file your tax return, your estimated taxes will work much like withholding taxes on your tax return. On the tax payments section of the tax return, there will be a place for you to record exactly how much you have paid in estimated taxes. If you paid too much, you will get a refund, if you didn’t pay enough, you will owe additional taxes, and maybe some penalties.

Get into the habit of paying your estimated taxes, and tax time should not be too much of a problem.
Do you have any questions about paying estimated taxes, or any other tax questions? Ask in the comment section and I will be happy to answer!