Work for Yourself? Don’t Forget This Important Tax Deadline

Work for Yourself? Don’t Forget This Important Tax Deadline

Working for yourself can be a nice setup. You run the show and you don’t have to answer to anyone. But being your own boss also means you have to take care of all your taxes, unless you hire a professional to take care of that for you. In either case, though, most self-employed people are responsible to make quarterly estimated tax payments.

Important Due Dates

So when are those payments due? The first two have already come and gone, so if you missed one, you better get caught up. The due dates for the year are:

Payment Period Due Date
January 1 to March 31 April 17, 2018
April 1 to May 31 June 15, 2018
June 1 to August 31 September 17, 2018
September 1 to December 31 January 15, 2019
If you have a steady income each payment period then your estimated payments will likely be the same. If your income fluctuates, chances are your payment amounts will too. That’s good news if you’ve missed a payment already. You can make up the difference when the next due date rolls around and you should still be OK come tax return time. Just make sure you’re completely caught up at the end of the year when your last payment is due. If not, the IRS could make you pay.

Special Exceptions
If you owe more than $1,000 at the end of the year then you will likely be penalized. There are some exceptions, and the IRS doesn’t always assess a penalty, but why leave it to chance. The exceptions are: 1) You earn less than $150,000 and you paid 90 percent of your tax burden for the current year or you paid 100 percent of the previous year’s tax bill; or 2) You earn more than $150,000 and you paid 90 percent or more of your tax burden for the current year or you paid 110 percent of what you paid the previous year. Self-Employment Income tax Threshold Some self-employed workers that don’t make very much income might think they have nothing to worry about, especially if the income comes from a side job. But the truth is it doesn’t take much self-employment income to owe the IRS taxes. That’s because the IRS expects you to pay taxes on any self-employment income above $400. No One Is Immune All taxpayers, both self-employed and company-employed, must pay the combined Social Security and Medicare taxes. This amounts to 15.3 percent: 12.4 from Social Security and 2.9 from Medicare. However, workers employed by companies only pay half of this amount, while the company picks up the other half. Self-employed workers have to foot the entire bill. Therefore, if you work for yourself, the safest bet is to put aside about 30 percent of every dollar you make for taxes. You could get a refund, and if nothing else you protect yourself from a penalty for underpaying your tax burden.

We hope you found this article about “Work for Yourself? Don’t Forget This Important Tax Deadline” helpful.  If you have questions or need expert tax or family office advice that’s refreshingly objective (we never sell investments), please contact us or visit our Family office page  or our website at www.GROCO.com.  Unfortunately, we no longer give advice to other tax professionals gratis.

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Alan Olsen, is the Host of the American Dreams Show and the Managing Partner of GROCO.com.  GROCO is a premier family office and tax advisory firm located in the San Francisco Bay area serving clients all over the world.

Alan L. Olsen, CPA, Wikipedia Bio

GROCO.com is a proud sponsor of The American Dreams Show.

The American Dreams show was the brainchild of Alan Olsen, CPA, MBA. It was originally created to fill a specific need; often inexperienced entrepreneurs lacked basic information about raising capital and how to successfully start a business.

Alan sincerely wanted to respond to the many requests from aspiring entrepreneurs asking for the information and introductions they needed. But he had to find a way to help in which his venture capital clients and friends would not mind.

The American Dreams show became the solution, first as a radio show and now with YouTube videos as well. Always respectful of interview guest’s time, he’s able to give access to individuals information and inspiration previously inaccessible to the first-time entrepreneurs who need it most.

They can listen to venture capitalists and successful business people explain first-hand, how they got to where they are, how to start a company, how to overcome challenges, how they see the future evolving, opportunities, work-life balance and so much more..

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In an increasingly complex and difficult world, we hope to help you find your personal path in life and build a strong foundation by learning how others found success and happiness. True and sustainable success and happiness are different for each one of us but possible, often despite significant challenges.

Our mission at MyPaths.com is to provide resources and firsthand accounts of how others found their paths in life, so you can do the same.