The tax
The number, and whether the money is there.
Not a worksheet. Self-employment tax, your state where it is modelled and the rate you type where it is not, your withholding, the four payments as a schedule, and the reserve judged against a real account.
This whole pillar is on Business: the estimate, the worksheet and the four payments need business activity, which starts with the business split, so Personal does not carry them.
The estimate that knows your job
Self-employment tax on 92.35% of the profit, half of it deducted back. Wages fill the brackets first. Social Security on the business stops at the wage base less what the job used. Withholding counts toward safe harbor.
W-2 wages fill the brackets first
Business profit on top
Social Security stops at the base
Four payments, with amounts
A quarter of the lesser of 90% of this year and the safe harbor, each date, after withholding, or less when the income came late (the annualized method). Recorded per quarter; where to pay.
Q4 Jan 15
$87.26
Reserve
Covered
Safe to draw
$24,096.92
Is the tax money there
Name the account you keep it in. Owed so far against what it holds, and the share of each deposit to set aside.
Tax reserve
Covered$8,216
owed so far
$8,900
in the account
14%
set aside
14% of each business deposit is tax on this year’s figures.
What can move to personal today
Business cash, less the business cards, the reserve gap and the charges the ledger already knows are coming.
Safe to draw today
$24,096.92
$25,541.22
in the business
$1,163.04
owed on cards
$0.00
reserve short
$281.26
due in 30 days
Mileage that can be defended
Date, miles, destination and purpose per trip, the IRS mileage log rules in Pub. 463; undefended miles never reach the deduction, and the gap is priced.
Undefended miles never reach the deduction.
Contractors and 1099s
Line 11 back into payees, the $2,000 threshold for 2026, W-9 marks, a file for January.
A 1099-NEC at $2,000, by January 31.
Retirement and health, in the estimate
SEP-IRA and Solo 401(k) room on this year’s figures; premiums, the home office and the qualified business income deduction come off where the return puts them.
Saving about $5,888 at your marginal rate.
January as a list
W-9s, 1099s, receipts over the line, the mileage log, the retirement deadline; each line points at the panel that clears it.
Try it first
See the number before you connect anything.
A free calculator runs the same federal, state and self-employment arithmetic on whatever you type, in your browser, no account.
Open the quarterly tax calculator