[Hidden-tech] Question re: finances

Ron Miller ronsmiller at comcast.net
Fri Jul 14 07:17:12 EDT 2006


Don's method is a good one as I can attest (since he helped launch my 
freelance career 18 years ago), but if you are a sole proprietor you 
don't really need to worry about this on a monthly or even quarterly 
basis, so long as your quarterly estimates are equal to at least 100 
percent of your previous year's taxes. Of course, you still need to have 
the money you owe come April, so you need to make sure you've set aside 
enough to cover yourself for that eventuality.

In addition to taxes, you should also consider contributing the maximum 
amount you can to a SEP IRA (or similar self employment retirement 
vehicle) as this can significantly reduce your tax burden. In a sense, 
you pay yourself instead of the government.

I would suggest, however, that you consult with a good accountant. I've 
worked with John Sherbow at McGonnigle, Sherbow and Delisle for several 
years and he is extremely professional and competent.

Ron


Don Lesser wrote:
>    ** Be a Good Dobee and help the group, you must be counted to post .
>    ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
> 
> 
> When I was a freelancer, I simply took 25% of every check and deposited it
> into a separate bank account BEFORE I DID ANYTHING ELSE with the money. As
> long as I had the discipline to do that, I had my quarterly payments. You
> might want to go to 35% to guarantee you had enough. 
> 
> Don Lesser
> Pioneer Training, Inc.
> 14 Bobala Road
> Holyoke, MA 01040
> (413) 536-1030 (phone)
> (413) 552-0472 (fax)
> dlesser at ptraining.com
> www.ptraining.com
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net
> [mailto:hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net] On Behalf Of Jeff
> Rutherford
> Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 7:43 AM
> To: hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
> Subject: [Hidden-tech] Question re: finances
> 
>    ** Be a Good Dobee and help the group, you must be counted to post .
>    ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
> 
> 
> Here's a question for everyone.
> 
> Since I absolutely hate having to keep track of quarterly estimated
> taxes (several times I've had to scramble and come up with large sums to
> cover taxes), I'm wondering if a service exists to deal with this.
> 
> Ideally, what I would like to do is have a service similar to
> Administaff or Paychex where every time I received a contractor payment
> from a client (with no taxes deducted of course), that I could send the
> gross amount to the service and they would deduct the appropriate
> amounts of taxes, FICA, etc., and take care of those payments so that I
> don't have to keep track of those amounts.
> 
> I don't know if something like this exists. Of course, I could hire a
> bookkeeper, but I'd rather have a service that automatically deducts
> those taxes from the various payments I received, and keep track of
> those taxes for me.
> 
> It's my understanding that the two services I mentioned above are set up
> to handle a regular salary situation vs. a fluctuating contractor income
> that is not the same every month.
> 
> Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
> 
> Jeff
> 
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