Quarterly estimated taxes for 2026: the amount and the way to pay
No employer withholds tax from freelance income, so the IRS expects you to send it yourself during the year. Enter your expected profit and last year's tax to get one figure per quarter.
Federal payment due each quarter
$3,500
Safe harbor used: 100% of last year ($14,000 for the year)
| Payment 1, due April 15, 2026 | $3,500 |
| Payment 2, due June 15, 2026 | $3,500 |
| Payment 3, due September 15, 2026 | $3,500 |
| Payment 4, due January 15, 2027 | $3,500 |
| Expected 2026 federal tax (income + SE) | $19,316 |
| California income tax for the year | $3,390 |
Computed by Radif Partners from IRS documents for tax year 2026 · How we calculate · no email asked, nothing sold
You owe quarterly estimated taxes for 2026 when two things are true: you expect to owe at least $1,000 after withholding and refundable credits, and what is withheld will fall short of the smaller of 90 % of your 2026 tax or 100 % of the tax on your 2025 return. If your 2025 adjusted gross income passed $150,000 ($75,000 married filing separately), the second figure becomes 110 %. Estimated tax covers both income tax and self-employment tax, the 15.3 % Social Security and Medicare charge on 92.35 % of profit. A single freelancer with $90,000 of profit and no other income owes about $12,717 of self-employment tax and $6,599 of income tax, $19,316 in all. If that person paid $14,000 for 2025, the cheaper route is 100% of last year, so $3,500 per installment is enough to avoid a penalty. Payments go through your IRS Online Account, IRS Direct Pay, EFTPS, a card, or a check with a 1040-ES voucher.
Estimated tax is the pay-as-you-go system for income that nobody withholds from: freelance invoices, gig work, rent, interest. Publication 505 spells out that the same payments cover income tax and self-employment tax, so a sole proprietor or single-member LLC owner sends one combined amount, not two. The calculator above starts from your expected profit, works out the federal tax the 2026 return will show, then compares it with last year's tax to pick the smallest amount that keeps you clear of a penalty.
One invoice, how much is yours
Yours to spend
$3,950
| To the tax account | $1,050 |
| Federal set-aside rate | 21% |
Single filer, no state tax.
The $1,000 test and the two percentages
Form 1040-ES sets two conditions, and both must apply before payments become mandatory. First, the balance you expect to owe with the return, after subtracting withholding and refundable credits, has to reach $1,000. Second, your withholding and refundable credits must come in below the smaller of 90 % of the tax on your 2026 return and 100 % of the tax on your 2025 return, a return that has to cover a full twelve months. A side gig that leaves you owing $800 at filing time does not trigger anything; a full-time practice almost always does.
Higher earners use 110 % instead of 100 % for the prior-year comparison once 2025 AGI went above $150,000, or $75,000 for a married person filing separately in 2026 (Form 1040-ES, Special Rules). The full set of thresholds, and why the prior-year anchor is usually the safer choice for a growing business, is on the safe harbor page.
Who escapes the whole system
A U.S. citizen or resident alien for all of 2025 who had no tax liability for that full year does not have to pay estimated tax for 2026. The IRS counts a total tax of zero, or no filing requirement at all, as no liability. Someone who left a salaried job in 2025 and had everything withheld does not fall in this group: their 2025 return showed tax, so the normal rules apply in the first freelance year.
Working out the number for 2026
The official route is the Estimated Tax Worksheet in Form 1040-ES. You project adjusted gross income, take off the standard deduction ($16,100 for a single filer, $32,200 for a joint return) or your itemized total, apply the 2026 brackets from Rev. Proc. 2025-32, then add self-employment tax on 92.35 % of net profit. Half of that self-employment tax is subtracted when you figure AGI, which the worksheet handles on its own line. The qualified business income deduction, worth up to 20 % of business profit under the income threshold, lowers the income tax part but never the self-employment part.
| Net profit | SE tax | Income tax | Federal total | 90 % rule, per quarter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $40,000 | $5,652 | $1,775 | $7,427 | $1,671 |
| $60,000 | $8,478 | $3,559 | $12,037 | $2,708 |
| $90,000 | $12,717 | $6,599 | $19,316 | $4,346 |
| $120,000 | $16,955 | $11,506 | $28,462 | $6,404 |
| $180,000 | $25,433 | $21,625 | $47,058 | $10,588 |
The last column divides 90 % of the projected bill by four. That is the current-year route. It saves cash when 2026 is shaping up worse than 2025, but it depends on a projection you cannot check until December. Look at the share of the total that is self-employment tax at low profits: at $40,000 it is the larger part of the bill, which surprises people who expected the standard deduction to wipe out most of their tax. The self-employment tax page explains the 92.35 % base and the Social Security cap of $184,500.
Starting from last year instead
The other route needs no forecast at all: take line 24 of the 2025 Form 1040, multiply by 100 % or 110 %, subtract expected withholding, and divide by four. You may owe more in spring 2027 if 2026 turns out bigger, but no penalty applies on that difference. Many freelancers use this for the first three installments, then check the January payment against actual numbers.
Ways to send the money
Form 1040-ES lists the channels, and the electronic ones give you a confirmation the same day.
- IRS Online Account. Pay estimated tax directly and see five years of payment history in one place.
- IRS Direct Pay. A transfer from a checking or savings account with no fee and no enrollment.
- EFTPS. The Treasury's Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, online or by phone, free but only once you have enrolled.
- Debit card, credit card or digital wallet. Accepted through processors listed on IRS.gov/Payments; each one charges a fee.
- Check or money order. Payable to "United States Treasury", with "2026 Form 1040-ES" and your SSN written on it, mailed with the voucher for that due date to the address for your state.
Two other options are easy to forget. A refund on the 2025 return can be credited to 2026 estimated tax; filed on time, it counts as paid on April 15, 2026 (Pub 505, Credit an Overpayment). And you can make more than four payments, monthly for instance, as long as the total paid by each deadline reaches what was due for that period. Payments must be in U.S. dollars; the IRS does not accept digital assets.
Uneven income: the annualized method
Equal installments assume the money arrives evenly. A wedding photographer who earns most of the year between June and September, or a consultant who lands one large contract in the fall, can lower the early payments with the annualized income installment method in chapter 2 of Pub 505. You estimate income and deductions up to the end of each period, annualize them on Worksheet 2-9, and pay the result for that period. The catch: whoever uses it must attach Form 2210 with Schedule AI to the 2026 return, even when no penalty is owed. The penalty guide shows what happens when an early installment comes in short.
Changing course halfway
If a big invoice or a lost client changes the picture, refigure the year with Worksheet 2-12 of Pub 505. The required total by the next deadline is 50 % of the amended estimate if that deadline is in June, 75 % if it is in September and 100 % in January, minus what you already paid. The dates themselves, and the rule that lets you skip the January installment, are on the due dates page. State income tax runs on a separate track with its own forms; the calculator shows the state's yearly amount next to the federal installments.