One-off jobs and Quarterly Taxes

[BartonTribe]

Hey there, 

I never started my own business but for the past 4-5 months months now I have been doing odds-and-ends jobs to the point that it is where most of my income comes from now. I work for an hourly rate and just get a ton of word-of-mouth. There are only a few clients that have paid me more than $500, which I take it is the minimum (so I've been told) before you have to pay taxes on it. 

My main questions are:

1. What of these do I need to pay taxes on?

2. Does the TurboTax TaxCaster help figure how much?

3. If I need to be paying quarterly, where do I insert everything so I can stop worrying about it?

Thank you so much for your time and answers!!

[JBedford]

Thanks for your questions, @BartonTribe ! 

1. Assuming that you already earn enough total income to have a return filing requirement, then all self-employment income is taxable. 

2. The bare minimum you should pay in quarterly estimated tax payments is 100% of your 2022 tax liability from Line 24 of your Form 1040. If you make over $75,000 as a single filer, or $150,000 if married filing jointly, in self-employment income, then you should pay 110% of that number. You would pay this in four quarterly payments of 25% (or 27.5%) each. This will allow you to avoid an underpayment penalty. However, don't forget to count any other tax payments you make. For example, if you have tax withheld from a job. This will reduce the amount you need to pay. 

3. Quarterly estimated tax payment can be made using the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System. 

Hope this helps, please let me know if not!

[BartonTribe]

Thank you so much for the information and the resources!