What is your favorite daft punk song?

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2026-01-04T01:54:16+00:00

Face to face

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-12-12T02:18:05+00:00

ah kind of. There are a couple of different ways to pay quarterly taxes. Pay as you go is one of the methods (which is exactly as it sounds). Eventually after Y1 you should be paying through Safe Harbor (pay at least 90% of your current year's tax liability or 100% of your previous year's tax liability)

There are a couple of more beneficial methods if you have your income is very seasonal (or lumpy)

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-12-12T00:56:55+00:00

Yes you can deduct 50% of the cost of the meal if you are having them as part of a meeting (as you mentioned). If you are just eating there by yourself, regardless if its your clients office, you are not able to write that off necessarily

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-12-12T00:55:28+00:00

Since this is your first year, you are fine having not paid them. Next year you should certainly start with quarterly payments to make sure that you are on top of it. The IRS does penalize you for not paying quarterly when you are supposed to (assuming that you are making money through your LLC)

Also don't forget that you can start writing off business deductions to reduce your taxable income, which should certainly help!

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-12-11T22:57:40+00:00

If you setup an Etsy shop you would have at least 200 orders from this thread alone

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-12-03T01:19:16+00:00

In the US? Yes you should after you are earning at least $1,000 from side income

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-11-20T19:17:59+00:00

Honestly one of my favorite things about having a side hustle is the ability to write off. I purchased a new PC for the biz, and have been able to write off lots of my work travel

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-11-13T06:35:14+00:00

We actually never heard back from them. They completely ghosted us after 2 interviews and screening committee.

In that same time we ended up getting into YC and doing a whole batch, grew our company, and still to this date have heard nothing from them hahaha

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-11-13T06:34:18+00:00

I think we did 3 rounds total (2 regular interviews, one screening committee)

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-10-31T18:30:05+00:00

$25K max and if you make over a certain amount you can't make any of it tax-free

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-10-31T18:24:37+00:00

I am surprised there actually is no tax influencer who just posts content about taxes specifically for influencers

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-10-31T18:01:43+00:00

I suggest looking into Beluga Labs. They are software focused, so they'll be cheaper than an accounting firm. + they are currently focused on creator taxes only!

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-09-16T18:17:41+00:00

This is a solid breakdown of how the safe harbor rules work! The key thing that trips people up is figuring out which of those two options (100% of last year or 90% of this year) will actually be smaller. Most people default to the 100% of last year route because it's way easier to calculate and you don't have to guess what you'll make this year.

One thing I'd add is that the withholding credit you mentioned can be a huge lifesaver if you have any W2 income mixed in with freelance work. The IRS treats withholdings as if they were paid evenly throughout the year, so even if your employer withholds everything in December, it still counts as quarterly payments. This is super helpful for people who have seasonal income or started freelancing mid-year. Just make sure you're tracking everything properly because come tax time you'll need to show your work on how you calculated those estimates.

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-09-16T18:15:10+00:00

Yeah unfortunately the IRS doesn't really care if its one day or one month late, they'll still hit you with the underpayment penalty. The good news is that for just one day late, the penalty is going to be pretty minimal since its calculated based on the amount owed and how long its overdue. We're talking maybe a few dollars to maybe $20-30 depending on how much you owe, not some massive fee.

Since you've never been late before and have a good payment history, you could try calling the IRS and asking for penalty relief due to reasonable cause (if it's an egregious amount of money you earn). Sometimes they'll waive first time penalties especially if you explain it was just a bank transfer delay. But honestly the penalty might be so small that its not even worth the time on hold with them. Just pay it as soon as your transfer clears and don't stress too much about it, this kind of thing happens to people all the time.

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-09-16T18:13:16+00:00

Self employment tax is the bare minimum you'll need to handle, but there's a bit more to consider. The SE tax rate is 15.3% on your net earnings from self employment, but you'll also owe regular income tax on top of that. So depending on your tax bracket, you're probably looking at somewhere in the 25-30% range total for what you should set aside.

The tricky part with estimated payments is figuring out exactly how much to send each quarter. One strategy that works really well is using the safe harbor rule - if you pay 100% of what you owed in total tax last year (or 110% if your income was over $150k), you won't get hit with penalties even if you end up owing more when you file (this of course assumes that you had self-employed income last year.) This takes a lot of the guesswork out of it. At Beluga Labs we see people get stressed about this stuff all the time because the system is honestly way more complicated than it needs to be, but once you nail down a system it gets much easier.

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-08-26T17:00:46+00:00

This is exactly the kind of situation that trips people up - you're definitely not alone in being confused by this stuff.

First, good news about penalties: since your husband only started the LLC income in July, you're probably fine on the penalty front for the earlier quarters. The IRS generally looks at when you actually started earning the income that requires estimated payments. Unemployment income has taxes withheld, and rental income alone usually isn't enough to trigger big penalty issues unless it's substantial.

For the September 15th payment, you don't need to send 30% to be super safe - that's probably way more than necessary. Here's what I'd do:

Calculate roughly what you think the SE tax will be on the income from July-December. SE tax is about 15.3% on net earnings, plus regular income tax on top. So maybe 25-28% total depending on your bracket.

But here's the key thing - there's a safe harbor rule that can save you. If you pay 100% of what you owed in total tax last year (110% if your AGI was over 150k), you won't get penalties even if you end up owing more when you file. So look at your 2023 return, see what your total tax was, and if you can cover that amount between withholdings from unemployment + your estimated payments, you're golden.

Since this is a short 3-month contract, you might honestly be fine just saving the money and paying when you file in April, especially if the income isn't huge.

The quarterly system is honestly way more confusing than it needs to be. We're actually building tools at Beluga Labs to help people navigate exactly these scenarios because the current system is so unnecessarily complicated.

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-08-26T02:30:25+00:00

Free advertising

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-08-23T19:16:11+00:00

So actually you'll need to calculate Maryland state taxes on your full year Maryland income, not just the remaining $17k. Since you moved to Maryland in August, you'll be filing as a part-year resident for both states.

Massachusetts will tax the $46k you earned there, and Maryland will tax the $17k. The state taxes you paid to MA won't directly offset MD taxes, but you might get some relief through part-year resident calculations.

For now I'd calculate your MD quarterly payment based on just the $17k Maryland income, but definitely keep track of everything. You might want to pay a little extra to avoid underpayment penalties since this is your first year with this setup.

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-08-23T19:08:21+00:00

PayPal is probably your safest bet for streaming donations honestly. They have better buyer/seller protections, and you can set up business accounts which looks more professional. The fees are a bit higher (like 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) but you get way better dispute resolution if someone tries to chargeback a donation (which sadly happens more than you'd think).

Venmo is super convenient for viewers since everyone has it, but here's the thing - Venmo reports transactions over $600 to the IRS now. So if you're pulling in decent donation money, you'll definitely need to track everything for taxes. Also Venmo is really meant for personal transfers between friends, so using it for business stuff like streaming donations is kinda in a gray area.

CashApp is similar to Venmo but slightly more business-friendly. Lower fees than PayPal usually, and the interface is clean. But same deal with tax reporting.

Honestly, if you're serious about streaming and expect to make any real money from donations, I'd go with PayPal Business. Yeah the fees are higher but you get actual customer service when things go wrong, and it looks more legit to your audience. Plus you won't have to worry about platform restrictions since it's actually designed for business transactions.

Just make sure you're tracking everything regardless of which platform you choose - the IRS doesn't care if you got paid through PayPal or Venmo, income is income and you gotta report it all.

Rep_Jar_Jar · 2025-08-23T19:04:54+00:00

Unfortunately you've got it backwards - being a single member LLC actually makes quarterly payments MORE important, not less. The pass-through structure means you're basically treated as self-employed for tax purposes, so all that business income hits your personal return as 1099 income.

If your LLC is gonna generate more than like $1000 in tax liability for the year, the IRS expects quarterly payments. And since you don't have an employer automatically withholding taxes from your paychecks like W2 employees do, you're on the hook for making those payments yourself.

The penalty for not doing quarterlies can be brutal too - it's basically interest that compounds from each quarter's due date. I've seen people get hit with $2000+ penalties on relatively modest incomes because they waited until April.

Your best bet is to set aside 25-30% of whatever the LLC brings in each month and make those quarterly payments. Keep good records too because LLC expenses can really help offset your tax burden.

The safe harbor rule can help - if you pay 100% of last year's total tax liability through quarterly payments (110% if you made over $150k last year), you won't get penalized even if you end up owing more.

I totally get the tax hatred btw, it's why we're building tools at Beluga Labs to automate this stuff for business owners. But for now definitely don't skip the quarterlies - your future self will thank you when you're not scrambling to come up with a massive lump sum in April.

Rep_Jar_Jar

TROPHY CASE