Enter your annual revenue, expenses, and filing status. Get your exact quarterly estimated tax payment — SE tax, federal income tax, and 2026 IRS due dates. No signup required.
| Period | IRS Due Date | Pay This Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 1 – Mar 31 | April 15, 2026 | — |
| Apr 1 – May 31 | June 16, 2026 | — |
| Jun 1 – Aug 31 | September 15, 2026 | — |
| Sep 1 – Dec 31 | January 15, 2027 | — |
Get a clean copy of this breakdown in your inbox — with the IRS due dates pre-filled.
The U.S. tax system operates on a pay-as-you-go basis. When you work for an employer, they withhold income taxes and payroll taxes from each paycheck and remit them to the IRS throughout the year. When you're self-employed — whether as a freelancer, 1099 contractor, sole proprietor, or LLC — there's no employer doing that withholding. You do it yourself, four times a year.
If you expect to owe at least $1,000 in federal taxes for the year (after any withholding and credits), the IRS requires you to make quarterly estimated payments. Miss them — or pay too little — and you'll owe an underpayment penalty on top of your tax bill.
For most self-employed service business owners, the quarterly payment covers two separate obligations: self-employment (SE) tax and federal income tax. The calculator above computes both.
You most likely owe quarterly estimated taxes if any of the following apply:
If your employer withholds enough tax from a W-2 job to cover your total liability, you may not need to pay separately — but this is rare once self-employment income is significant. When in doubt, run the calculator and consult your CPA.
Most people new to self-employment focus only on income tax. The surprise is the second tax — self-employment tax — which is often just as large.
SE tax covers Social Security (12.4%) and Medicare (2.9%), totaling 15.3%. When you were employed, your employer paid half of this. Now you pay all of it. SE tax applies to 92.35% of your net self-employment income — the IRS adjusts the base downward to approximate what employees actually pay.
For a business with $280,000 in net profit, SE tax alone comes to roughly $29,000 — before a single dollar of income tax. This is the number that surprises most first-time self-employed people at tax time.
Federal income tax uses the same progressive bracket system as anyone else. But as a self-employed person, you get two important deductions first: a deduction for half your SE tax (the employer-equivalent portion) and the standard deduction. You may also qualify for the 20% QBI deduction on qualified business income, which can meaningfully reduce your taxable income if your earnings don't exceed the phase-out thresholds.
Example: On $280,000 net profit (single filer), you deduct ~$14,900 (half of SE tax) + $15,000 standard deduction + estimated QBI deduction, bringing taxable income to roughly $228,000. Federal income tax on that: approximately $52,000. Combined with SE tax of $29,000, total annual bill is ~$81,000, or ~$20,000 per quarter.
The IRS divides the year into four unequal payment periods. Each due date covers a specific income period:
Payments are made via IRS Direct Pay at irs.gov (free, no registration required) or by mailing IRS Form 1040-ES. Most states with income tax have their own separate quarterly payment requirements and schedules — California, for example, uses a 30/40/0/30 split rather than the federal equal-quarter structure.
The IRS won't penalize you for underpaying as long as you meet one of the safe harbor thresholds:
The 110% rule is the simplest strategy for high-earning service businesses: take your last tax bill, add 10%, divide by 4, pay that amount each quarter. You may owe more at filing if 2026 was a bigger year — but you won't pay penalties.
1. Forgetting SE tax entirely. Most tax planning conversations focus on income tax brackets. But at 15.3% of net earnings, SE tax is often the larger of the two bills. The calculator above shows both separately so you see the real total.
2. Setting aside a percentage of revenue instead of profit. If you earn $400,000 but spend $180,000 running the business, setting aside 25% of revenue ($100,000) is actually 44% of your net profit. Always model set-aside rates against net profit — that's what gets taxed.
3. Not setting aside money weekly. Waiting until the quarterly due date to find the cash is how owners end up scrambling or underpaying. The discipline is simple: every time money hits your account, move a fixed percentage to a separate tax account. You never miss the money if you never count it as yours.
4. Ignoring state estimated taxes. If you operate in a state with income tax, you likely owe quarterly state estimated payments as well — with separate due dates, separate forms, and separate penalties. Add 3–9% to your federal rate depending on the state.
For more on how to model the full tax picture from your real weekly numbers, read our quarterly tax estimation guide — which walks through the complete $400K consulting firm example with every step of the math.
If you want to understand the profit margin behind your tax liability first — what gross margin, operating margin, and net margin actually mean for your business — see our profit margin calculator, which benchmarks your margins against industry standards for your business type.
MarginProfitIQ tracks your actual revenue and expenses, calculates your running tax liability, and tells you exactly how much to set aside each week — no spreadsheets, no guesswork.
Start a Free 14-Day Trial of MarginProfitIQ →No credit card required.