Unequal Estimated Taxes? And a million other questions about driving with UberEats

[Shawna1113]

I know I'm about to ask a lot of questions, but I'm brand-new to this so I could use all the help I can get. I'm a full-time college student and have just started driving with Uber Eats also. I see that Quickbooks estimates quarterly taxes, but my income will change a lot throughout the year depending on my school schedule. For example, I'll work less during finals and more during breaks.

Can I just look at what I made during that quarter at the end to pay taxes based off of that, and do that every quarter?

Is there anything else I need to do to explain why my quarterly taxes would be different each quarter?

Can I just pay what I owe at the end of each month instead of waiting for the next quarter?

Are there any forms I need to fill out to do this?

Also- are quarterly taxes only for self-employment money earned? Because last year I got a bit more in scholarships than my tuition was and I had to pay taxes on my scholarships and grants, too. Does this need to be factored into the quarterly payments? If so, I'm not sure how I would even do that because I don't know what my financial aid situation will be like come August.

If I change jobs and stop driving with UberEats mid-way through the year, would I still have to pay quarterly taxes for the end of the year or do anything to explain why I'm not paying quarterly taxes after quitting?

Do I need to do anything like quarterly payments for state taxes? I live in West Virginia. 

[TurbulentCamel]

You are only required to make quarterly instalments if your net tax owing was $3000 or greater for the year.

I don’t think you need to worry about that now since you just started doing Uber, when you file your taxes you will pay taxes on that income.

[VolvoGirl]

To report your self employment income you will fill out schedule C in your personal 1040 tax return and pay SE self employment Tax. You can enter Self Employment Income into Online Deluxe or Premier but if you have any expenses you will have to upgrade to the Self Employed version. Or any of the Desktop programs. But you will get the most help in the Home & Business version.

How to enter income from Self Employment
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/self-employed/help/how-do-i-report-income-from-self-employment/00/...

Self Employment tax (Scheduled SE) is automatically generated if a person has $400 or more of net profit from self-employment. You pay 15.3% SE tax on 92.35% of your Net Profit greater than $400. The 15.3% self employed SE Tax is to pay both the employer part and employee part of Social Security and Medicare. So you get social security credit for it when you retire. You do get to take off the 50% ER portion of the SE tax as an adjustment on 1040. The SE tax is already included in your tax due or reduced your refund. The SE tax is in addition to your regular income tax on the net profit.

Here is some IRS reading material……
IRS information on Self Employment
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/self-employed-individuals-tax-center

1040 Schedule C Instructions
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sc.pdf

Publication 535 Business Expenses
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p535.pdf

ESTIMATES

You must make quarterly estimated tax payments for the current tax year if both of the following apply:

- 1. You expect to owe at least $1,000 in tax for the current tax year, after subtracting your withholding and credits.

- 2. You expect your withholding and credits to be less than the smaller of:

90% of the tax to be shown on your current year’s tax return, or

100% of the tax shown on your prior year’s tax return. (Your prior year tax return must cover all 12 months).

How to make the Estimated payments
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/tax-payments/help/how-do-i-make-estimated-tax-payments/00/25875

Here are the blank Estimates and instructions…..
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf