Resources
Free tools for people who make their own paycheck.
No employer is withholding your taxes, matching your 401(k), or smoothing out a slow month. These calculators and guides do the arithmetic that job would have done for you — free, no account needed.
Calculators
Tax
1099 tax calculator
Self-employment tax, federal income tax, QBI and quarterly payments — with a version for every state.
Open the calculator →Tax
Self-employment tax calculator
What the 15.3% actually costs you on this year's profit, and what comes back as deductions.
Open the calculator →Tax
How much should I set aside for taxes?
One percentage to move out of every deposit, based on your own income instead of a rule of thumb.
Open the calculator →Deductions
Mileage reimbursement calculator
2026 IRS rates for business, medical and charity miles, plus tolls, parking and the tax it saves you.
Open the calculator →Structure
LLC tax calculator
Your LLC's tax bill as a default pass-through versus an S-corp election — and where the crossover is.
Open the calculator →Pay
1099 vs W-2 calculator
Compare real take-home after tax, benefits and PTO, and find the contract rate that matches a salary.
Open the calculator →Pricing
Break-even calculator
How many units or jobs cover the bills, and how many hit the profit you actually want.
Open the calculator →Calculator
Retirement planning for the self-employed
SEP-IRA vs Solo 401(k) vs IRA, how much you can put away on 1099 income, and what it compounds to.
Open the calculator →Calculator
Budget planning on irregular income
A budget that works when no two months look alike: reserve first, pay yourself a steady number, cap the rest.
Open the calculator →Guides
Quarterly estimated taxes, explained
When they're due, how much to send, and how to stop dreading April.
Deductions you're probably missing
The line items self-employed drivers and contractors leave on the table every year.
What a valid mileage log looks like
The four fields the IRS actually wants, and how to capture them without an app-tax.
Debits vs credits without the jargon
Bookkeeping vocabulary, translated into money going in and money going out.
These get sharper once your books are in.
Inside Hate Ledger, the same calculators pull your real net income, your reserve balance and your actual category spend — and track streaks and milestones as you keep them current.
Educational only. Nothing here is investment, legal or tax advice.
Planning your money when income is uneven
Most small business advice assumes a steady salary. These guides and planners assume the opposite: some months are good, some are thin, and the job is to make the good months carry the thin ones.
Budget from your lowest normal month
Look back over a year of deposits and find your lowest ordinary month — not the disaster month, the quiet one. Build fixed costs around that figure: rent, insurance, software, loan payments, and the minimum you need to pay yourself. Anything above it in a good month is surplus, not spending money.
Split that surplus deliberately: tax reserve first, then a buffer of three to six months of fixed costs, then equipment or growth, then owner pay. Written down once, this removes the monthly argument with yourself about whether a good month means you can afford something.
Pay yourself on a schedule
Taking money out whenever the balance looks healthy is how owners end up unable to cover a quarterly tax payment. A fixed owner draw — the same amount on the same day, sized to your lowest normal month — makes both your business and your household predictable.
When the business consistently carries more than the draw plus reserves plus buffer, raise the draw. Lower it only when the buffer is genuinely at risk, and treat it as a decision rather than a drift.
Retirement when no one matches your contributions
Self-employed owners have options an employee does not: a SEP IRA, a solo 401(k), or a plain IRA, each with different contribution limits and paperwork. The retirement planner sketches what regular contributions could become over time and what a realistic monthly amount looks like against your actual net income.
The figures are illustrative projections, not guarantees or investment advice. Rates of return vary, and contribution limits change year to year — confirm the current limits before you commit to a plan.
Review it four times a year
Quarterly is the right rhythm: it matches estimated tax dates, it is frequent enough to catch a slide, and it is rare enough that you will actually do it. Check three things each time — did the reserve cover the tax bill, is the buffer growing or shrinking, and is owner pay still right.
If your books are in Hate Ledger, those three answers are already on the cockpit, and these planners read your real figures instead of asking you to estimate them again.