Quarterly Taxes for Self-Employed and 1099 Earners

Quarterly taxes for 1099 work are how you pay federal income tax and self-employment tax during the year when no employer is withholding it. Most self-employed people pay four installments. You estimate them from profit, set the cash aside as invoices get paid, and send the payment by the IRS date so you are not funding a full year of tax from one April balance.

Not tax advice. This is general information, not tax advice. Whether you must pay, and how much, depends on your return. Confirm amounts and dates with a qualified tax professional and the current IRS instructions.

Who has to pay quarterly taxes

Estimated tax is the method for paying tax on income that is not subject to withholding. The 2026 Form 1040-ES says that, in most cases, you must pay estimated tax for 2026 if both of these apply:

1. You expect to owe at least $1,000 in tax for 2026 after subtracting withholding and refundable credits.
2. You expect your withholding and refundable credits to be less than the smaller of 90% of the tax on your 2026 return, or 100% of the tax on your 2025 return (the 2025 return must cover all 12 months).

If your 2025 adjusted gross income was more than $150,000 ($75,000 if your 2026 filing status is married filing separately), that prior-year figure is 110% instead of 100%. There are special rules for farming and fishing income. If you had no tax liability for the full 12-month 2025 year, the form describes an exception — read it before you assume you can skip payments.

A W-2 job alongside freelance work changes the picture, because paycheck withholding counts. It does not automatically cover the 1099 profit. People in that spot either raise withholding on the W-4 or make estimated payments on the self-employment income. Both are allowed paths; a preparer can tell you which fits.

Estimated taxes for self employed people

Estimated taxes for self employed filers are advance payments of the tax you would otherwise owe when you file. They are not a separate tax. For sole proprietors, single-member LLCs taxed as sole proprietors, gig workers, and other 1099 earners, the bill inside those payments is usually:

• Income tax on taxable income.
• Self-employment tax — 15.3% (12.4% Social Security and 2.9% Medicare), generally calculated on 92.35% of net earnings from self-employment. For 2026, the Social Security portion applies up to $184,500 of combined wages and net earnings from self-employment.

Self employed quarterly taxes and quarterly taxes for self employed workers are the same calendar: four federal installments, unless a special rule says otherwise. If you run an S corporation and pay yourself W-2 wages, those wages already have withholding. Estimated tax can still apply to profit that is not covered by that withholding. Entity choice is a conversation with a tax professional, not a paragraph on this page.

The practical problem is cash flow. Profit shows up as a client payment. Tax shows up months later. How much to set aside for 1099 taxes is the percentage side of that problem. This page is the calendar and the estimate.

2026 quarterly tax due dates

These dates are the four installments printed on the 2026 Form 1040-ES. Confirm them against the form for the year you are paying — they move when a date lands on a weekend or legal holiday, and a later year's form can differ.

Two details that surprise people every year:

• The periods are not equal. The second installment covers April and May only, and it is due June 15 — not at the end of June. The default on Form 1040-ES is still four equal payments of the required annual amount, not a payment sized to the length of each period. If your income arrives in lumps, the annualized method (Form 2210, Schedule AI) is the official way to match payments to income actually earned. That worksheet is a preparer job if you have not done it before.
• You do not have to make the payment due January 15, 2027, if you file your 2026 return by February 1, 2027 and pay the entire balance due with that return.

You can pay each installment online (IRS Direct Pay, EFTPS, or the other methods listed at IRS.gov/payments) or with the vouchers in Form 1040-ES. Paying the whole estimated amount in April is also allowed. Most freelancers should not, because it means parting with cash before they have earned the later quarters.

State estimated tax is separate. Do not assume your state uses these four dates or four equal shares. Check the state agency.

How to estimate a quarterly payment from a P&L

The FAQ version is short: start from expected annual net profit, apply your combined income-tax and self-employment-tax picture, divide into the installments you still owe, and adjust as the year goes on.

A profit and loss statement is what makes that more than a vibe. Use the profit and loss statement template you already have, or the self-employed profit and loss template when you want the lines closer to a Schedule C. The Schedule C profit and loss guide for freelancers shows how owners read that report. Expenses belong in a tracker first — the freelancer expense tracker or the self-employed expense tracker — so the profit line is not missing the costs that lower it. What you can deduct is covered, at a high level, in the 1099 write-offs and deductions guide.

A simple sequence

1. Take year-to-date net profit from the P&L. If the year is young, project a full-year figure and label it as a projection.
2. Sketch the combined tax on that profit: federal income tax, self-employment tax, and state income tax if you have it. A common working range for the federal piece is 25–35% of net profit before state tax. It is a range, not your rate. Details are in the set-aside guide.
3. Subtract withholding you will already have paid through a W-2 or other withholding.
4. Divide what remains by the installments left in the year if you are using equal payments. In January that is often four. In August it might be two.
5. Redo it before the next due date with a fresher P&L. A single annual guess that you never touch is how people underpay a big fourth quarter.

Illustration only. Suppose you expect $60,000 of net profit and you are using 30% as a placeholder for federal income tax and self-employment tax combined. That is $18,000 for the year. Four equal installments are $4,500 each, before state tax and before any W-2 withholding. If a paycheck will already withhold $4,000 over the year, the estimated-tax remainder in this illustration is $14,000, or $3,500 a quarter. This is arithmetic, not a calculation of your tax.

The usual penalty guardrail on Form 1040-ES is the test above: withholding and credits at least as large as the smaller of 90% of this year's tax or 100% of last year's tax (110% in the higher-income case). Meeting that test can limit an underpayment penalty. It does not mean you will owe nothing in April. You can still have a balance due when you file.

Set the money aside before you need it

An estimate that lives in a notes app does not pay the IRS. The transfer does.

On each invoice, move your set-aside percentage into a tax holdback — a savings account, or a named fund inside the sinking funds tracker. Treat taxes like any other irregular bill you can see coming: car insurance, an annual premium, a quarterly estimate. The tracker already calculates a monthly contribution from a target and a date. For taxes, the target is your expected annual tax and the dates are the four due dates above. Log the transfer in. Log the IRS payment out.

If you have not picked a percentage yet, start with the 1099 set-aside guide and then come back to the calendar.

Keep the P&L live and the holdback automatic

A quarterly estimate goes stale for the same reason a P&L goes stale: nobody wants to retype three months of transactions the week a payment is due. By June the sheet is a memory of January.

The free templates still come first. Copy the P&L. Copy the sinking funds tracker. Copy an expense tracker if the categories are a mess. None of those require an Avery account.

Avery for Google Sheets can import transactions from supported bank accounts. Review suggested categories, check how records map to your worksheet, and reconcile the totals. Avery Pro includes profit-and-loss and cash-flow reports in the app; the spreadsheet and app are distinct workflows.

Avery Pro brings accounts, expenses, invoices and reports together in the mobile and web apps. Business adds recurring invoices, payment reminders and advanced bookkeeping tools. If you prefer a spreadsheet workflow, Avery for Google Sheets imports transactions from supported accounts, with categories and rules for you to review. Compare the plans. The free template also works with manual entry.

Keep going

• How much to set aside for 1099 taxes — the 25–35% starting range and why self-employment tax changes it.
• Sinking funds tracker — the tax-holdback envelope, with a Q&A.
• Profit and loss statement template and self-employed profit and loss — net profit for the estimate.
• Schedule C profit and loss for freelancers — reading that statement against the return.
• Freelancer expense tracker and self-employed expense tracker — deductions that change the profit you pay on.
• 1099 write-offs and deductions — the hub for what to track.

Not tax advice. Due dates here are from the 2026 Form 1040-ES. Your requirement to pay, your safe harbor, your state, and your dollar amount are specific to your return. Confirm them with a qualified tax professional.