Free tool
Freelance tax set-aside estimator.
Enter expected income and deductible expenses, get the set-aside total, the per-quarter amount and what actually stays yours. A planning estimate, not tax advice.
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How to use the freelance tax set-aside estimator.
What it does. It turns one number writers avoid - what do I owe? - into a plan: your taxable base after deductible expenses, the total to set aside at your chosen rate, the per-quarter amount if you pay quarterly, and what actually stays yours.
How to use it. Enter what clients will pay you this year, your deductible business expenses, a set-aside percentage (25% is a common starting point) and anything you have already put away. Update it whenever a big payment lands.
Why it matters. Freelance income arrives gross - no employer withheld anything. The writers who get hurt are not the ones who owe tax; they are the ones who spent it. A fixed set-aside rate, applied the moment payment lands, removes the cliff entirely.
Your data. The tool runs entirely in your browser - text you paste never leaves the page, and nothing is uploaded to a server.
Good to know
Where this fits
Working-writer tools guard the commercial side of the craft: the rate, the invoice, the deadline, the agreement. The writing only pays if the paperwork holds, and these do the arithmetic and the tracking that busy weeks push aside - the ten minutes here that protect the invoice are never wasted.
Category neighbours: Writing timer and Article outline generator
Page reviewed 27 September 2026 · re-checked at every desk sweep