Quarterly Estimated Taxes 2026: Your Payment in 6 Steps

Nobody withholds tax from freelance income, so the IRS expects you to pay it yourself during the year, in four installments. To figure the amount, you estimate your whole year’s federal tax (income tax plus self-employment tax), work out the minimum you need to prepay to avoid a penalty, and divide that by four. The IRS worksheet for this is in the 2026 Form 1040-ES. This guide goes through it line by line, with an example.

Do you need to pay estimated tax?

For 2026, you generally must make estimated payments if you expect to owe at least $1,000 after subtracting withholding and refundable credits, and your withholding and credits will fall short of the safe harbor amount (the smaller of 90% of your 2026 tax or 100% of your 2025 tax, or 110% for higher earners). The full rule is in the Form 1040-ES instructions.

There’s one exception: you don’t have to pay 2026 estimated tax if you were a U.S. citizen or resident alien for all of 2025 and had no tax liability for that full year. A full-time freelancer will almost always clear the $1,000 threshold. At $80,000 of profit, my example below comes to more than $16,000 of federal tax.

How the safe harbor works, including the 110% version, is covered in Estimated Tax Deadlines for 2026 and the Safe Harbor Rule. This guide is about figuring the payment itself.

Step by step: the 2026 Estimated Tax Worksheet

This is how the worksheet runs for a sole proprietor. Publication 505 (2026) has the full version (Worksheets 2-1 and 2-3).

Step 1: Figure your self-employment tax first

Self-employment tax comes first, because half of it is a deduction you need before you can find your income. Per the 2026 Self-Employment Tax and Deduction Worksheet in Form 1040-ES:

• Multiply your expected net profit by 92.35%. That’s your net earnings from self-employment.
• Multiply that by 12.4% for Social Security, up to a 2026 maximum of $184,500 of earnings, and by 2.9% for Medicare, with no cap.
• Add the two together to get your self-employment tax. Half of it is deductible.

If the 92.35% step is new to you, Self-Employment Tax Explained goes through where each number comes from.

Step 2: Figure your expected adjusted gross income

Take your expected income and subtract adjustments. For a freelancer, the main one is the deductible half of self-employment tax from Step 1.

Step 3: Subtract your deductions

For 2026, the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers and married filing separately, $24,150 for head of household, and $32,200 for married filing jointly, per Form 1040-ES. Most sole proprietors can also take the qualified business income (QBI) deduction, up to 20% of their qualified business income. The deduction is capped at 20% of taxable income (minus net capital gain), per the IRS. Your QBI is your business profit reduced by items like the deductible part of self-employment tax. The 2026 Form 1040-ES notes the QBI deduction is now permanent. Below $201,750 of taxable income for single filers ($403,500 married filing jointly), the extra limits based on W-2 wages and business type don’t apply, per Rev. Proc. 2025-32.

If you pay your own health insurance, the self-employed health insurance deduction also comes off your income at this step, which lowers the estimate.

Step 4: Apply the 2026 tax rate schedule

Run your taxable income through the 2026 tax rate schedules printed in Form 1040-ES. For a single filer, that’s 10% on the first $12,400 and 12% up to $50,400, with higher rates after that.

Step 5: Add self-employment tax and subtract credits

Add your Step 1 self-employment tax to the income tax, plus any other taxes, and subtract credits. That’s your total estimated tax for 2026.

Step 6: Work out your required annual payment and divide by four

Take the smaller of 90% of your 2026 estimated tax or 100% (or 110%) of your 2025 tax, the safe harbor explained in the deadlines guide. Subtract any withholding you expect. If the result is zero or less, or your total estimated tax minus withholding is under $1,000, you’re not required to make payments. Otherwise, divide by four. That’s your installment. If your income is very uneven, the annualized method in Estimated Taxes on Irregular Income: The Annualized Method can lower the early installments.

Worked example: an $80,000 freelancer

Say you’re a single freelance designer. You expect $80,000 of net profit in 2026, with no other income, no withholding, no credits, and the standard deduction. Your 2025 return showed $12,000 of total tax, on an AGI under $150,000.

1. 1

   Expected net profit (Schedule C)

   $80,000
2. 2

   Net earnings from self-employment

   $80,000 × 92.35%

   $73,880
3. 3

   Self-employment tax

   $73,880 × 12.4% = $9,161 + $73,880 × 2.9% = $2,143

   $11,304
4. 4

   Deductible half of SE tax

   $11,304 × 50%

   −$5,652
5. 5

   Expected adjusted gross income

   $80,000 − $5,652

   $74,348
6. 6

   Standard deduction (single)

   −$16,100
7. 7

   QBI deduction

   20% × the smaller of $74,348 (QBI) or $58,248 (taxable income before QBI)

   −$11,650
8. 8

   Taxable income

   $74,348 − $16,100 − $11,650

   $46,598
9. 9

   Income tax

   $1,240 + 12% × ($46,598 − $12,400)

   $5,344
10. 10

    Total 2026 estimated tax

    $5,344 income tax + $11,304 SE tax

    $16,648
11. 11

    90% of 2026 estimated tax

    $16,648 × 90%

    $14,983
12. 12

    100% of 2025 tax

    $12,000
13. 13

    Required annual payment (the smaller)

    $12,000
14. 14

    Each quarterly payment

    $12,000 ÷ 4

    $3,000

Every step is rounded to the whole dollar, as on the IRS worksheet. Assumes no other income, withholding, credits, retirement contributions or health insurance deduction. Federal only.

In this example, paying $3,000 a quarter is enough to avoid an underpayment penalty, as long as each payment is on time. It doesn’t cover the full bill, though: you’d still owe about $4,648 ($16,648 − $12,000) when you file your 2026 return. If you’d rather owe close to nothing in April, pay one-quarter of the full estimate instead: $16,648 ÷ 4 = $4,162 per payment. The first option keeps more cash in your hands during the year, and the second avoids a large balance due at filing.

The four payments, one by one

Payment	Paid so far, $3,000 each	Paid so far, $4,162 each
1	$3,000	$4,162
2	$6,000	$8,324
3	$9,000	$12,486
4	$12,000	$16,648
Still owed when you file	$4,648	$0

• 1

  Paid so far, $3,000 each

  $3,000

  Paid so far, $4,162 each

  $4,162

• 2

  Paid so far, $3,000 each

  $6,000

  Paid so far, $4,162 each

  $8,324

• 3

  Paid so far, $3,000 each

  $9,000

  Paid so far, $4,162 each

  $12,486

• 4

  Paid so far, $3,000 each

  $12,000

  Paid so far, $4,162 each

  $16,648

• Still owed when you file

  Paid so far, $3,000 each

  $4,648

  Paid so far, $4,162 each

  $0

$3,000 is the required annual payment of $12,000 divided by four. $4,162 is the full estimated tax of $16,648 divided by four; the Form 1040-ES worksheet says you can pay the full amount from line 11c if you prefer. Dates are in the deadlines guide.

How each payment is figured

The lines below are from the 2026 Estimated Tax Worksheet in Form 1040-ES. The first column is the example above. The second keeps the same $80,000 profit but adds $30,000 of W-2 wages with $2,000 of federal income tax withheld, and no prior-year figure:

Worksheet line	Example above	With a W-2 job
11c: total 2026 estimated tax	$16,648	$22,159
12a: 90% of line 11c	$14,983	$19,943
12b: amount based on 2025 tax	$12,000	None used
12c: required annual payment (smaller of 12a, 12b)	$12,000	$19,943
13: income tax withheld	$0	$2,000
14a: line 12c minus line 13	$12,000	$17,943
15: each payment (¼ of line 14a)	$3,000	$4,486
Balance due at filing (11c − 13 − four payments)	$4,648	$2,215

• 11c: total 2026 estimated tax

  Example above

  $16,648

  With a W-2 job

  $22,159

• 12a: 90% of line 11c

  Example above

  $14,983

  With a W-2 job

  $19,943

• 12b: amount based on 2025 tax

  Example above

  $12,000

  With a W-2 job

  None used

• 12c: required annual payment (smaller of 12a, 12b)

  Example above

  $12,000

  With a W-2 job

  $19,943

• 13: income tax withheld

  Example above

  $0

  With a W-2 job

  $2,000

• 14a: line 12c minus line 13

  Example above

  $12,000

  With a W-2 job

  $17,943

• 15: each payment (¼ of line 14a)

  Example above

  $3,000

  With a W-2 job

  $4,486

• Balance due at filing (11c − 13 − four payments)

  Example above

  $4,648

  With a W-2 job

  $2,215

Computed with the same function as our quarterly calculator, which rounds each payment up to the whole dollar. Single filer, no credits or retirement contributions. The W-2 column assumes the wages and the withholding shown. How lines 12a to 12c work is covered in the deadlines guide. Federal only.

Withholding comes off the required annual amount before you divide by four. Here the $2,000 withheld lowers each payment by $500.

When to pay

You pay in four installments, and the periods aren’t equal quarters. The dates, the penalty and what to do if you start mid-year or fall behind are in Estimated Tax Deadlines for 2026 and the Safe Harbor Rule.

How to pay

The Form 1040-ES instructions list several no-fee electronic options: your IRS Online Account, IRS Direct Pay (from a checking or savings account), and EFTPS, which requires enrollment. Card payments are also possible through processors that charge a fee. You can still mail a check with the payment voucher from Form 1040-ES. See the IRS payments page for all the options.

Your own numbers will differ from the example: state tax, W-2 wages, retirement contributions and credits all change the result. For a quick percentage to put aside from each client payment, see How Much Should I Set Aside for Taxes as a Freelancer? To run the worksheet with your own numbers, use the Quarterly Estimated Tax Calculator.