so in January I started, and my first invoice went out the second week in January, but was not paid till the second week in Feb (30 days net) ... is the estimated tax due April 15th based on 6 or 7 weeks of income in the first year?
It would be when you receive payment, provided you are cash basis taxpayer.
See https://www.irs.gov/publications/p538#en_US_202112_publink1000270638
By default, you are a cash-basis taxpayer. You record and pay taxes on income when it is actually paid, regardless of when the contract is signed or the invoice is issued. Your first quarter estimated taxes due April 15 should reflect actual income paid to you between January 1 and March 31. Don't count as income, jobs that have been invoiced but not paid yet.
It is possible to use accrual accounting, where you book revenue when it is earned rather than when actually paid. This is complex and should not be attempted without an accountant to help you. Without taking extra steps to set up an accrual based accounting system, you should consider yourself a cash basis taxpayer.
It would be when you receive payment, provided you are cash basis taxpayer.
See https://www.irs.gov/publications/p538#en_US_202112_publink1000270638
@tony-tman-moore why do you ask about the first 6-7 weeks of income'
your tax return due on April 15, 2023 will reflect ALL income received during 2022
Are you asking that since you receive payment on a 30 day lag, only the cash received for the 6-7 weeks prior to April 15 is reported as taxable income? hopefully my statement above clarifies that. the cash received in Feb / <March , 2023 will be reported with your tax return on April 15, 2024, not your taxa return on April 15, 2023.
You pay the Self Employment tax on your regular 1040 return you will file in April 2023. So you should make quarterly estimated payments during the year to cover any tax due on it unless you increase any W2 withholding to cover the SE tax. And it's based on your Net Profit on Schedule C, not the total income received.
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. 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.
Are you worried about paying a penalty for not paying enough in quarterly? If you do not pay in enough tax from withholding and estimates, you may have to pay a penalty for underpayment of estimated tax. Generally, most taxpayers will avoid this penalty if they owe less than $1,000 in tax after subtracting their withholdings and credits, or if they paid at least 90% of the tax for the current year, or 100% of the tax shown on the return for the prior year, whichever is smaller. It is included in your tax due or reduces your refund.
Oh and here's some more general info since this is your first year.
You will need to keep good records. You may get a 1099NEC at the end of the year if someone pays you more than $600 but you need to report all your income no matter how small. You might want to use Quicken or QuickBooks to keep track of your income and expenses.
There is also QuickBooks Self Employment bundle you can check out which includes one Turbo Tax Online Self Employed return....
https://quickbooks.intuit.com/self-employed
When you are self employed you are in business for yourself and the person or company that pays you is your customer or client.
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/00/26653
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
By default, you are a cash-basis taxpayer. You record and pay taxes on income when it is actually paid, regardless of when the contract is signed or the invoice is issued. Your first quarter estimated taxes due April 15 should reflect actual income paid to you between January 1 and March 31. Don't count as income, jobs that have been invoiced but not paid yet.
It is possible to use accrual accounting, where you book revenue when it is earned rather than when actually paid. This is complex and should not be attempted without an accountant to help you. Without taking extra steps to set up an accrual based accounting system, you should consider yourself a cash basis taxpayer.