How to File Your Taxes if You're Self-Employed | TurboTax Tutorial 🧾 - YouTube

Hey ya'll, Jenn here from finder.com.

It’s that time of year again:  

tax season. While doing your taxes as  a freelancer can be the absolute worst,  

preparation throughout the year and good  invoice management can make it less painful.

The easiest way to file is online  through a service like TurboTax,  

but there are a few steps before you sign in, that you'll need to go through first. Let's get into it!

You may need to file your taxes on a  

quarterly basis if you're going to pay  more than $1,000 a year.

To find out if that's the case for you,  

multiply your expected yearly revenue  by the self-employment tax rate.

Regardless if you're paying quarterly  taxes, it's typically recommended that you  

set aside 25 to 30% of all pay earned  through self-employment for taxes.

When you're ready to pay your estimated taxes,  you'll use Form 1040-ES. Complete the worksheet  

and either mail in the provided voucher with  a check, or pay using the IRS's online portal.

To file your end-of-year taxes, there are a few more steps you need to take, though.

Business expenses can add  up fast as a contractor,  

but luckily there are several you  can deduct from your taxable income.  

Make sure you have the yearly total costs  for all of the following before you start:

If your pay is $600 or more, you should  receive Form 1099-MISC from your client.  

But you don't necessarily need the form to  get started if you have all of your invoices.  

You’ll need to gather the  following information to begin:

Okay, once you've gathered all that information

you can finally hop onto your  preferred tax filing software.  

Make an account if you don't have one already.

When choosing your password, make sure you're  picking something as safe as possible — given  

your taxes are full of sensitive information. You might even want to consider using an application like  

LastPass or Dashlane in combination with  a cybersecurity program like Norton.

to ensure all your information stays 100% secure.

The next part is probably the longest  one. It starts with entering your basic  

personal and contact information like  your name, date of birth and ZIP code.

You'll then go through each  step of the filing process,  

one screen at a time. It's time-consuming, I'm not gonna lie, but generally software asks the same questions as IRS  

forms in a lot clearer of terms — so it makes it a lot easier to jot down exactly what you need.

Okay, if your estimated tax payments didn't cover  everything OR if you didn't pay them along the way,

throughout the past year, you can pay in one of a few ways:

First, you can mail to your regional IRS office using a check.

Second, you can fill it out and make a payment online, using the IRS's payment portal.

And if you can't pay the full amount right now, you may be able to pay over time.

Check out the IRS's website on payment plans to find  out if you qualify and how to set it up.

Once everything is entered, take a good look at it before signing on the digital line.

You'll wanna check every section and make sure all the totals match up,

and then seal it with your e-signature.

For more info about filing  taxes when you’re self-employed,  

check out the full article linked below on Finder.com. You'll get a breakdown of different 1099 types,  

and how to fill out a portion  of the Schedule C by hand.

Don't forget to hit that subscribe button to get even more video content about business and personal finances.  

And while you're there, consider  giving this video a thumbs up.

Have any more questions about filing your taxes as a contractor?  Leave a comment below and we’ll get back to you ASAP!