So I am a new independent contractor in June 2020. I live in Ohio. My yearly-31200 weekly-600. I've never paid taxes before, how much should I take out for each paycheck?

[cayleykocher]

I try to look online for numbers but each site says a different thing. I know I have to pay fed and state, but are there any other taxes I'm missing? I have no tax breaks and single, no children or dependents.

[Bsch4477]

Besides paying state and federal income tax, as an independent contractor, you will owe about 15.3 percent self employment tax on that income as well. 

[MinhT1]

As an independent contractor, you will receive your income without any withholding. Your income is self-employment income which is subject to both income tax and self-employment tax.

If you start in June 2020, you should pay estimated each quarter on September 15, 2020 and January 2021 based on on earnings in the last quarter. To be safe, you should pay 20% to 25% in estimated taxes. You can pay online at this IRS site.

Please read this IRS article for more information.

[lwilsoningram]

My son is in the same situation.  However, we tried to pay online through IRS direct pay, but he cannot "verify" himself since he does not have a 2019 tax return (never filed before).  I talked to the IRS today and the person said there is no way to pay online, even with a credit card, because you need a prior year tax return to "verify" youself so the IRS can set up an account to hold your payment.  Is this the case?  Also, now I'm reading the Form 1040-ES form, and under the section "who must make estimates tax payments" there is an exception, which says if you were a US citizen and you total tax for 2019 was zero or you didn't have to file a return, you don't have to pay estimated tax for 2020 (I guess just file and pay at the end of the year).  Is this true and accurate?

Just curious if the original poster was able to file and pay online, based on this answer, or if the same issue is being encountered.  I agree that the total taxes are federal, state, and self employment.

[Bsch4477]

There is no penalty for underpayment of federal income tax if you withhold or pay estimated tax at least equal to your previous year tax liability. Since your son had no return filed for the previous year his tax liability was zero and he will owe no tax penalty for whatever is income is for the next year.  He has to be sure to “tell “ the program that his peor tax liability was zero to avoid the program calculating a penalty on form 2210.