The Sunlight Tax Blog:
Tax and Money Education for Creative People, Freelancers and Solopreneurs
In today’s episode, I’m sharing my story of struggling with perfectionism and how I was able to overcome that and embrace imperfection and how I came to aim for quality over perfection.
Join me as I share some of my story along with some tips on how you can embrace and live the motto “Done is better than perfect” when you’re just starting out as a business new owner.
This week, I’m talking about embracing discomfort for your personal growth and financial success and how seeking out discomfort can help drive learning and achievement.
Join me as I share some of my own experiences of overcoming discomfort and how you can learn to view mistakes as learning opportunities instead of signs of failure.
Today, I’m diving into the second part of paying estimated quarterly taxes and sharing how you can actually calculate what your quarterly payments to the IRS should be.
Join me to learn how you can determine your payments and why you should stop focusing on perfection and exact numbers.
If you’re a creative entrepreneur, chances are that you might be confused with the idea of paying your estimated quarterly taxes.
Today, I’m breaking down all of the details about estimated quarterly taxes including how to know what you owe and when you need to submit payment to the IRS.
Join me in this informative episode to learn how you can stay caught up on your taxes and how you can avoid a large, unexpected tax bill.
Most creative people are motivated to make incredible work. We might even strive for perfection.
In this episode, I’m talking about how perfectionism is actually holding you back as a creative entrepreneur. I share a vulnerable story about my own perfectionism, talk openly about real fears you may be having, and some actionable ways you can get past them, and get the most out of your money and keep moving forward. I’m also sharing how the topic of perfectionism relates specifically to the IRS (guess what? The IRS doesn’t ask you to be perfect!), to your estimated quarterly taxes, and why you should stop worrying about being perfect when it comes to your taxes.
Here we are at Tax Day. Your taxes are filed. (They aren’t? Here’s an IRS extension form – postmark it today. You’ll need one for your state, too.)
Last year you vowed to get your stuff in order. Then suddenly the tax deadline was upon you, and you scrambled through the process, and weren’t as careful as you intended to be. You suspected you should have been paying estimated quarterly taxes all year, but didn’t, and now your tax bill is surprisingly high.
You meant to set some money aside in a retirement account, but that shocking tax bill meant you didn’t have any cash to do it.
You suspect that there were deductions you missed.
If you’re being honest, your books were a mess (if you’re thinking “I need to keep books?” go back and read this.)
Now that the time pressure is off, let’s take a look at how you can make this year better. Plus some discounts on apps that can help you. Read more...
Last Love Song, Silica and Pigment on Linen, 24" x 20", 2014, by Matt Phillips
In my last post, I addressed a common dilemma for the new freelancer - an unexpectedly large tax bill in April. I explained self-employment tax, and why it catches so many people off guard. In this post, I’ll explain estimated quarterly taxes, which are the solution to that huge April tax bill.
You’ve newly struck out on your own, and you had your first profitable year as a freelancer. Congratulations! But when you prepared your taxes, you were blindsided by the enormous tax bill. You got a crash course in self-employment tax, and now you’re ready to set yourself up better for next year. It’s time for estimated quarterly taxes.
Our tax system is called “pay as you go.” If you’re employed, your employer withholds taxes from your paycheck each pay period, so that at the end of the tax year, you should have already paid in approximately the amount of taxes that you owe. When you overpay, you get a refund, and when you underpay, you owe some more tax on top. But the idea is that you don’t pay all of your taxes for the year at one time - for almost everyone, setting aside that much money would be difficult.
When you freelance, there’s no employer to withhold tax for you, so it becomes your job. (Yes, another burden of the gig economy). Everyone knows, and that includes the IRS, that it’s much harder to pay one big bill than several small ones. So to approximate the withholding situation of an employer, the IRS requires freelancers who owe at least $1000 in tax to make estimated quarterly payments.
It may seem yucky to have to pay taxes four times a year instead of just once, but it’s a good thing. Breaking it up into quarters makes the payments much easier to handle. And you avoid an unpleasant surprise in April.
