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The self-employment tax rate is 15.3%. This tax applies to individuals who work for themselves and covers Social Security and Medicare taxes.  Here's a simplified breakdown of how to calculate self-employment tax: Determine your net earnings: Calculate your self-employment net earnings by subtracting your business expenses from your gross income (use Schedule C). Calculate the taxable base: Multiply your net earnings by 92.35% (0.9235). Calculate the self-employment tax: Multiply the result from step 2 by the self-employment tax rate (15.3% or 0.153). This gives you the total self-employment tax amount.  Let's say your net earnings from self-employment are $50,000: Taxable base: $50,000 * 0.9235 = $46,175 Self-employment tax: $46,175 * 0.153 = $7,064.78. Therefore, your estimated self-employment tax would be $7,064.78. Important Notes: Social Security Wage Base: The Social Security portion of the self-employment tax (12.4%) has a wage base limit, which is $176,100 for 2025. If your net earnings exceed this amount, you'll stop paying the 12.4% Social Security tax on the excess, but you'll still pay the 2.9% Medicare tax on all your earnings. Deduction for One-Half of Self-Employment Tax: You can deduct half of your self-employment tax when calculating your adjusted gross income (AGI), reducing your income tax liability.  For a MORE PRECISE CALCULATION, especially if your earnings are near or exceed the Social Security wage base, consult IRS Schedule SE.  2025-2026 Quarterly Estimated Tax Payment Due Dates: 1st Quarter:   January 1 – March 31, 2025 - Due Date: April 15, 2025. 2nd Quarter: April 1 – May 31, 2025 - Due Date: June 16, 2025. 3rd Quarter:  June 1 – August 31, 2Dealership5 - Due Date: September 15, 2025. 4th Quarter:  September 1 – December 31, 2025 - Due Date: January 15, 2026. Y You may estimate your overall Married Family Joint Taxes using TurboTax Personal Tax Calculator & Tools. Tax Calculator 2024 , or any other Tax Calculator available. Lastly, the above is intended to give you a general idea of how to approach your tax situation and you are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to consult a Tax Professional about the specific circumstances of your tax situation to obtain the Best Possible Results when filing your Tax Returns.  Kind Regards, Franklin TurboTax Expert **Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post

You always have to report and pay taxes globally as a US Citizen or Green Card Holder even if the amount is less than $100,000.00. If the amount is more, then you have an added form to file, Form 3520. You calculate tax on the full gain on sale, even though taxes were taken out at time of sale. So for example, Appraised value at time of sale is say $100,000.00. Sold for $150,000.00. Tax taken out is $10,000.00. In the US return, you would owe taxes on the gain ($150,000 minus $100,000 = $50,000). The tax paid in the birth country is taken as Foreign Tax credit.  Now you may have cost associated with selling the property, such as realtor/broker commission paid. This would reduce the gain on sale of property. So in the above example, it would reduce the gain from $50,000 by the amount of expense.

Just keep in mind that the Foreign tax credit would not be dollar for dollar match. So say you paid $2000.00 in his birth country, it would not necessarily lead to a $2000.00 tax credit in the USA due to tax law differences. Nisha

Thank you. I have more questions on question 2:   So if the inherited property was worth less than $100,000 ( and it is), I do not have to file anything for the inheritance itself?    We have already paid the tax to the foreign country.  We paid it at the same time as the sale. We do not need an extension.   Regarding making an estimated quarterly payment now that takes into account the foreign property sale, how can I decide how much to pay, given that 20% was already taken away from us in taxes when we made the sale. Please know that I know absolutely nothing about selling property whether here or in another country. So please give me the "for dummies"/newbie answer.   Thanks!

1) Yes, you are right!! Any "extra" withholding you're already taking out specifically to cover your husband's self-employment earnings directly reduces the amount you'd otherwise need to pay via estimated taxes. 2) If your husband paid taxes in his birth country on the sale, you can usually claim a Foreign Tax Credit on your U.S. tax return (Form 1116) to offset your U.S. tax liability on the same income. This helps avoid double taxation. Keep careful records of any foreign taxes paid. Add this estimated U.S. tax liability (after any foreign tax credit) to your overall estimated tax calculation for the year. You can then adjust your remaining quarterly payments (or make an additional payment for the quarter in which the sale occurred) to cover this new income.   @PadillaFam Thanks again!!

Yes. taking into account what you have already paid is fine for making the estimated tax payments. For your second question, the value/basis of the property is usually the appraised value at the time of the inheritance. Gain is the difference between that appraised value and the price at which you sell the property. That being said, this amount maybe different in your case based on the tax treaty between USA and his birth country. Nisha

Thanks!   So for Question 1, the extra money I would send in would not be anywhere near a quarter because I am already taking extra withholding to account for his earnings. But I would estimate how much extra I should pay, taking into account the withholding that I've already paid. Is that fine?   For Question 2, now I have questions about how much money I should send for the sell of the foreign property.  I do know anything about this; we have never sold a property in the US or abroad before!  I know we had the property appraised before selling. Is the taxable amount the different between the appraised value and the amount we earned on selling it? Also, we had to pay an incredible 20% sellers tax  to the foreign country. I don't believe the US will tax us for that, right? How should I take that into account when I estimate how much to send in for Quarterly Estimated Tax?  

Hello Padilla, Let me answer your first question first: You will want to calculate your estimated quarterly profit and then your estimated taxes based and pay based on that estimate.  You’re responsible for all of your FICA – Social Security and Medicare – along with income tax on your profit.  FICA is going to be 15.3% and your income tax will be based on your overall taxable income bracket.   It is great that you are withholding more money from your Wages to cover the estimated taxes required for his income but it is crucial that you make correct estimated tax payments.  Determining what to pay and when is crucial to avoid penalties and interest on underpayment of tax.  Here is a great resource on how to pay estimated taxes.   Now for your second question: 1) You should make an estimated tax payment based on the gain on sale of property. This is the same as having sold an inherited property in the USA. The difference here is that when you file your 2025 tax returns remember to take any Foreign tax credit for taxes paid on the sale of this inherited property in his birth country. The thing to keep in mind about the foreign tax credit is that it is paid or accrued. Some countries do not have a calendar year for taxation reporting. So say the tax filing in the foreign country is not till after 4/15/26, and you do not pay the tax on this till the time of filing there, you can claim the taxes as accrued for 2025 tax year. To take the correct amount of tax, I would recommend filing an extension in the USA. After you file the tax return in his birth country, you would file the tax return in the USA. One last thing on the inheritance, you will have to file Form3520 with the IRS, if the amount of inheritance exceeds $100,000. Hope this helps! Nisha **Please say "Thanks" by clicking the thumbs up icon in a post ***Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on the "Mark as Best Answer"

1) Yes, you can absolutely send in extra money via Quarterly Estimate Filing if your husband's business has been better in one quarter! The IRS understands that income from self-employment can fluctuate. You are not required to pay four equal installments. You can adjust your estimated payments throughout the year to reflect your actual income. If one quarter is significantly better, you can make a larger payment for that quarter to cover the increased income. It is generally recommended to calculate the amount more precisely to avoid underpayment penalties.    Use Form 1040-ES: This form helps you figure out the estimated tax payments. It includes a worksheet to calculate the amount. Estimated Taxes: How to Determine What to Pay and When  A Guide to Paying Quarterly Taxes    2) Yes, you likely need to account for the profit from the sale of the inherited foreign property in your Quarterly Estimated Tax filings for the current year. When your husband sold the inherited property, any profit he made above his "basis" in the property is considered a capital gain and is taxable in the U.S. If you wait until you file your 2025 tax return (due April 15, 2026), you could face an underpayment penalty if you haven't paid enough tax throughout the year through withholding and/or estimated payments. The IRS expects you to pay tax as you earn income.   @PadillaFam Thanks for the question!!

Right, I'm going to wait until the HSA actually completes my request to finish amending my return, but they should do it correctly since I chose withdraw excess contribution.   The $ amount in excess will then be income on my 2024 amended return and then any interest income on the account that was generated from the excess contribution should be distributed as well and that will become other income on my 2025 return done in early 2026.   The verbiage does throw me off, but I agree that I do believe Option 1 is the correct option to choose, so it calculates it correctly.

The pre-populated other health insurance premiums paid number is populated when you enter your social security income.  It should be the same number as the amount of Medicare Part B or D premiums you had deducted from your social security benefits.  There is a specific box for the entry of those premiums from your social security benefits.   It is completely correct to have that number show up in both your social security entries and your medical cost entries.  You put it in while you enter your SSA-1099 and the program will enter it wherever else it is appropriate.  There is no need to do anything, the program is working correctly. 

These issues are not uncommon.    One thing you may do, depending on how far from a post office you are, go into a post office and explain the issue.  They have more info on their system than is shown on the USPS.com lookup.  You've already opened a case for missing mail, which would be the next step.    Have you called the IRS about this document?  If you haven't I would advise doing so. 1800-429-1040, call at 7am, your best chance of reaching a human.  If they say they have it, problem solved   If they have no record of receiving it then I would send it again, include a cover letter indicating that it was originally sent on XX/XX/2025, you were told there is no record of it being received so you are resending it.  Hopefully the agent will put in notes about the call in case the first one shows up in the meanwhile.   If mailing, send it certified mail with a return receipt requested.  That seems to be the most thorough way of tracking sent mail.    It is also possible to fax the document to the IRS.  The fax number is 844-249-8134, but if choosing this route please check the article on faxing the IRS to make sure they are still accepting faxes.  Here's the link: Form 3115     Then I would contact the USPS customer service and request a refund for the postage of the priority mail that did not arrive.  You can do that by signing into your USPS account, which you have since you set up a lost mail look-up.     Best of luck getting this resolved.  

The refund should not have gone up so much. That being said, refund could have gone up a lot more due to other credits, such as EIC, etc. I would double check the tax withheld entries for DC as well. A transposed figure can also create an excessive refund.

An LLC is a separate legal entity, but the IRS doesn’t consider it a separate tax entity.  From the IRS viewpoint a single member LLC is called a disregarded entity and is still taxed the same as a sole proprietor, unless you make an election to be taxed as a corporation using form 8832.  If you did make the election to be taxes as a C-Corp or S-Corp, you can become an employee of the corporation and pay yourself a reasonable salary, which will be an expense for the corporation.  But you will also have to file a corporate income tax return, quarterly payroll tax returns, and make payroll tax deposits via the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System - EFTPS. Here is some more in depth information on the other payroll tax implications of doing that:   Corporate Tax Overview However, if you didn't make the tax declaration with the IRS, you will still be taxed as a sole proprietor.  Our tax system is “as you go” so you will want to estimate your profit quarterly, and pay based on that estimate.  You’re responsible for all of your FICA – Social Security and Medicare – along with income tax on your profit.  FICA is going to be 15.3% and your income tax will be based on your overall taxable income bracket.     Determining what to pay and when is crucial to avoid penalties and interest on underpayment of tax.  Here is a great resource on how to pay estimated taxes.    When you file your 1040 tax return at the end of the year, if you didn’t make the entity election to be taxed as a corporation, you will file a Schedule C along with your 1040. Hope this helps! Cindy