1. NET SELF-EMPLOYMENT INCOME AND SE TAX — Net self-employment income is $72,000. Self-employment tax applies to 92.35% of that, which is $66,492. At 15.3%, that's approximately $10,173 in self-employment tax for the year. Since $66,492 is well under the Social Security wage base, the full 15.3% applies to the entire amount without hitting the Medicare-only cap threshold. 2. ESTIMATED FEDERAL INCOME TAX — Half of the self-employment tax, about $5,087, is deductible from income before calculating federal income tax. Starting from $72,000, subtracting that deduction and the standard deduction for a single filer, taxable income lands roughly in the $58,000-$60,000 range, which at current single-filer brackets works out to approximately $7,000-$7,500 in federal income tax. This is a planning estimate; run the actual numbers once the year is closer to done. 3. SAFE HARBOR CHECK — Because last year was a W-2 job with its own withholding and this is your first year of significant self-employment income, the prior-year safe harbor isn't a clean comparison to lean on; your target should be the 90%-of-current-year rule instead, meaning paying at least 90% of the roughly $17,200-$17,700 combined SE tax and income tax estimated above, which is approximately $15,500-$16,000 across the year. 4. QUARTERLY PAYMENT SCHEDULE — Using the combined estimate of roughly $17,500 for the year, split across the four IRS due dates: - April 15: approximately $4,375 - June 15: approximately $4,375 - September 15: approximately $4,375 - January 15 (following year): approximately $4,375 Since no payments have been made yet and it's early in the year, this even split is reasonable given your income sounds roughly steady month to month. 5. DEDUCTION AND STRUCTURE CHECK - Home office deduction: you mentioned a portion of home internet already tracked; worth checking whether you also qualify for the home office deduction itself, which is separate from the internet expense and commonly missed by first-year freelancers. - SEP-IRA: you don't have one yet, and this is worth serious consideration before year end. A SEP-IRA contribution, up to 25% of net self-employment earnings, reduces your taxable income and would lower both the income tax estimate above and your remaining quarterly payments if contributed before the relevant deadline. - Self-employed health insurance premium deduction: if you're paying for your own health coverage since leaving a W-2 job, that premium is generally deductible against self-employment income; worth checking whether this applies to your current coverage. 6. SET-ASIDE STRATEGY — At roughly $17,500 on $72,000 in net income, that's about 24% of net earnings. A practical habit: move 25% of every client payment into a separate high-yield savings account the day it's received, which builds in a small buffer and means each quarterly payment is already sitting there rather than needing to be scraped together. 7. NEXT STEPS - Set up the 25%-per-payment savings habit this week if it isn't already in place. - Make the April payment via IRS Direct Pay (no account needed) or set up EFTPS if you'd rather have a recurring payment system for the whole year. - Look into whether opening a SEP-IRA before the year closes makes sense; even a modest contribution reduces this year's estimate. - Keep the expense spreadsheet current through the year; a more complete expense picture by Q3 may lower the remaining payments.