Hi medenix!!
The quick answer is no, you do not have to make quarterly tax payments. BUT, if you do not, you will likely be subject to an underpayment of tax penalty. This penalty is effectively an interest charge for not paying your taxes ratably during the year.
Also keep in mind that you will also owe Social Security and Medicare Tax, in addition to income tax. So the amount of taxes you owe may be more than you are figuring.
The Self-Employment tax rate is approx. 15.3%. Which means that if you are in the Federal 10% bracket, you would need to pay 25.3% of those earnings (after expenses) to satisfy your tax obligations. In addition, depending on where you live, you will also owe state taxes.
So if you want to avoid underpayment penalties, then yes, you do need to make estimated tax payments to the IRS (and maybe to your state).
Don't forget that the rate of tax is applied to your NET income. So you can reduce your income by ordinary and necessary expenses.
I hope this helps!
Marty
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