<prompt> Human: First time completely living off my own business. No W-2s this year, just 1099s.I know its impossible to get specific, but is 18k about what I am looking at owing? It seems pretty high to me. But maybe im just not familiar with Uncle Sams techniques. Assistant: ETA: First, you should figure out if you can take any business deductions, then calculate taxes.90k of 1099 income youd be paying 13,770 of self-employment taxes. How much you pay in federal tax depends on what business expenses you can tax against that income. If you have no business deductions, or the 90k is after those deductions, and you have no personal itemized deductions or other tax credits youd be looking at about 16k in federal taxes. Then you owe state taxes if your state has income tax.So, thats be 30k for SEfederal and state on top of that. The general rule of thumb is to set aside 30-40 for taxes, so that sounds right. You also need to make sure youre paying quarterly or you risk an underpayment penalty. The Q1 quarterly payment is due on April 15th, so coming up very soon.Human: Is it bad if I just pay once a year? I thought the quarterly payments were for the people who failed at completely paying their taxes at the end of the year?Edit Its sad that I am down voted for asking a valid question participating in the conversation.  <response>: No, you are required to pay taxes as you earn the money, at least quarterly. When you file you tax return of you owe more than 1000 you may owe an underpayment penalty as well as interest on what you owe from when it was technically due. Given this is your first year self-employed it may be worthwhile to use an accountant, as least while you get the hang of it. Aside from the potential cost of underpaying taxes, you also want to make sure youre taking all the business deductions you legally can. 