Free resource
How much of every deposit should you actually be setting aside?
Five questions and you get one number: the percentage of every payment to move into a separate account so September 15 stops being a surprise. Built for self-employed professionals in Texas.
StartTakes about 90 seconds
Your quick estimate
The numbers that change your answer
Round numbers are fine. Your answers stay in this browser and are not submitted.
More precise estimate
Set aside
of every deposit
Read this first
This is a planning estimate, not tax advice. I am a bookkeeper, not a CPA, so run it past whoever prepares your return before you rely on it. It assumes you take the standard deduction, that you are in Texas with no state income tax, and it leaves out several things that could move the number.
Your 2026 estimate
What is left this year
Keep this
Want this waiting for you in September?
I will email you a copy of this estimate so it is there when you sit down to move the money. Your answers stay in this browser. Only the result and your address are sent.
Worth a conversation
At your profit level, an S-corp election starts to be worth pricing out.
Electing S-corp status lets you split what you take out of the business into a salary and a distribution. Payroll taxes apply to the salary only. Here is what that looks like on your numbers, with the added costs taken off rather than left out.
Two things this does not tell you
The salary is a placeholder, not a number you can defend. The IRS requires reasonable compensation for the work you actually do, and there is no formula for it. A salary set too low is one of the most common reasons an S-corp return gets examined.
Whether to elect is a decision for your CPA. I keep books and run payroll. I do not make the election and I do not advise on it. What I can tell you is what it costs you in admin afterward, which is the part people underestimate.
What actually changes for you
The election creates real monthly work. You have to run payroll for yourself on a schedule, file quarterly payroll returns, and keep the books clean enough that the salary and distribution split holds up if anyone looks. That is the part that lands on your desk in month two and does not leave. It is also exactly the part I take over.
Want help finding your real numbers?
If your books are behind, your profit figure is a guess, which makes this a guess too. When the books are current, the set-aside stops being an estimate and becomes a number you can actually run your business on.
Bring your result and your latest profit-and-loss report.