<prompt> Human: I work alone, I do my own marketing, what I do is legal, and I get paid in cash. I put the cash straight into my bank account. Do I need to pay taxes to anyone or is this considered a gift? Will it look like im evading taxes if my cash income becomes very high? For the past 3 years ive worked a normal day job and this, but I just decided to leave the day job as this is providing all the income I need for about 25 hours of work a week. Assistant: That is absolutely taxable income and you need to claim it on your return and pay taxes on it. You should be making quarterly estimated tax payments or else you will get hit with an under withholding penalty. assuming youre in the US, dont know about other countries Human: I dont know how though. I dont have an employer. Do I look into doing whatever self-employed people do?  <response>: Yes, you are self-employed. Its probably best to get help the first time you file taxes, especially if you think you may have owed last year but didnt pay. A CPA will cost a couple hundred bucks and should be able to answer your questions. If this is a new gig or you are sure last years taxes arent going to bite you then even TurboTax or similar software tools can handle cash income for self-employed people. Its very common.As for estimated tax payments, they are actually quite easy. Use Form-1040ES to make the payments. Page 11 of the PDF has the slip you mail into the IRS, but the first pages have some instructions and worksheets that can help you get the amount close.You dont have to get it exactly right. If you get it within 1000, or within 10, or if you filed last year and you pay at least as much as you owed last year, then you wont have any penalties for getting it wrong. For details, see instructions for line 77 of Form 1040 page 72. 