HACKER Q&A
📣 brntsllvn

Do you estimate your tax return throughout the year? Why? What tools?


I'm a contractor, startup founder, and investor. I spend tons of time aggregating data to determine what tax I owe at the household level (I'm married and my wife works) so I can 1) make quarterly estimated payments, and 2) not have to worry about sourcing cash or paying penalties at tax return time.

I haven't found a good tool to help with or automate any of this and I'm thinking about building one.

Do you care about this problem? How do you solve it? What's it worth to you?

  👤 jqpabc123 Accepted Answer ✓
My tool --- compare to last years income/taxes and ratio appropriately.

It's all just a guess anyway. You can't make it exact unless you're psychic and know that next quarter will be a big one or a bad one.

👤 jschveibinz
I am not a professional accountant or CPA.

But from my experience as a self-employed (in the US), you are in “safe harbor” if you just plan to pay at least 90% of last year’s tax bill (spread throughout the year) and then estimate any additional taxes due in January prior to the April deadline based on end of year totals.

Again, it’s just a suggestion, so discuss this with your tax accountant.