Question

Independent Contractor Taxes

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
October 6, 2018
1 reply
0 views

Hello,

In March of 2018, I was hired as an independent 1099 contractor. I have never worked one or paid taxes myself. I was paid $5000 in June and $11000 in September. I know I was supposed to pay taxes quarterly, but my friend told me since I have not made that much, even if there's penalty, it won't be much. But now I am concerned. How do I calculate the estimated taxes? I bought a computer and other office furniture for the job. And I had another part-time job meanwhile, which only paid $300-$400 a month. Thank you in advance.

Carl11_2

If you send the IRS 20% of your gross business earnings *right now*, that will reduce your underpayment penalties that are accumulating, and will prevent (or at least reduce) the amount of paperwork you will be doing to claim exemption from those penalties, if they are in fact, assessed. If your state also taxes personal income, then don't forget about quarterly taxes to your state too.

http://www.irs.gov/directpay for the federal taxes.

G

garrapattaAuthor

Carl, thank you for your help. Do I need to send any forms or can I just make the payment? Also, I had some expenses related to my work as an independent contractor that can be written off, do I worry about it when I file taxes next year? Thank you so much!

Carl11_2

So long as your business does not have any W-2 employees, just make the payment on line and make sure to print your receipt and file it with your 2018 business records. NOw if your state taxes personal income, you'll need to pay your state quarterly taxes too. Not all states offer the option to pay online though.

As for your business expenses, and other stuff, don't worry about dealing with it until tax filing time. But I do urge and highly encourage you to keep finely detailed records of every penny in and every penny out of your business. There's three rules to always keep in mind when dealing with the IRS.

1) You are guilty until proven innocent.

2) The burden of proof is on the accused (that would be you!) and not the accuser.

3) If it's not in writing, then it did not occur.