<prompt> Human: Im a brand new ux designer out of the General Assembly UXDI program and freelancingcontract work looks like my best option right now but I have no idea how to start figuring out income and taxes what I should save and apparently self-employed folks have to do quarterly taxes?!Any pitfalls, lessons, or advice you may have for me?  <response>: Not getting benefits like health insurance is a pitfall.Being able to control your hours and how you do your work is a benefit.For taxes go to irs.gov and look at the small business portal page. Also download these:Pub 334 Small BusinessPub 535 Business DeductionsSchedule C and its instructions -- for listing your income and deductible business expenses. The difference is your profit, and this goes on 1040 line 12.Schedule SE -- you pay both halves of Soc Sec and Medicare. It works out to SE tax Sched C profit 0.9235 0.153 if you earn under 118.5K. This goes on 1040 line 57. But you also get to deduct half SE tax on 1040 line 27.Note line 28 -- you can have a Solo 401k or SEP IRA. Put in up to 18K employee contributions and also employer contrbutions equivalent to 20 of SE profit 12 SE tax at your discretion, but with total cap of 53K. You can of course also do an IRA or Roth IRA for another 5.5K.Note line 29 -- you can deduct some of the cost of health insurance premiums.Form 1040 must be used because you are self employed. If you have no W-2 job, you will probably face needing to send in estimated taxes 4 times a year. The dates are not 3 months apart mid-apr, mid-jun, mid-sep, mid-jan.The IRS Form 1040-ES booklet shows you how to figure out if you owe estimated taxes and how much. There are a few ways of avoiding having to pay during the year. Having 0 liability the previous year is one. Owing less than 1000 is another. The IRS in general wants you to pay in the lesser of these two numbers: 100 of last years total tax 90 of this years taxThe 1040-ES worksheet on p. 8 goes through the steps you use to project your AGI, deduction, exemption, taxable income, income tax, and SE tax. It subtracts any W-2 withholding you expect if any. IRS Pub 505 chapter 2 has worksheets related to estimated payments, and explains how to handle special cases like: starting to earn partway through year, having variable income, and needing to change amount you pay because of change in income.If you dont subcontract out to others or have employees of your own, you just use your SSN on Schedule C, not an EIN. You dont need to be LLC or S Corp. 