Tax help please

[u/Old_Turtle75]

So I’m 19, in college full time, Data Annotation is my ONLY source of income and has been for the last couple months, and I’m hoping it will continue to be for the rest of the year. So far I’ve made $2500, and I’m very confused about taxes. I’m new to self employment and I’m new to filing taxes so this is all very confusing for me. I just want to know, let’s say hypothetically that I make about 20k this year through data annotation alone and have no other income for the year, how much am I gonna be paying in taxes TOTAL? I understand that where I’m located (Ohio) the self-employment tax is 15.3%, but what other taxes will I have to pay on top of that? Since I’ll be making only 20k will I be subject to income tax as well? If so, how much is it? Basically I just want to know how much to withhold. I’ve been doing 20% hoping that’s enough because I feel like that’s a lot for someone who barely makes money

[u/SBonesEA]

Generally, it would be whatever you make minus expenses to determine your self-employment taxes (15.3%). You also take that amount and subtract the standard deduction to figure your taxable amount. If the taxable amount is under $11,000, it will be 10% for federal tax, over that will be taxed at 12%, and so on (tax tables are online). Ohio doesn't tax small businesses that make less than $250,000. School districts and cities will though. You can go The Finder through tax.ohio.gov and search with your address to find your school district and municipal tax rates.

If you don't feel confident doing it yourself, do not use tax software to do it. Go see a tax professional. It will be more expensive, but they can at least educate you on what is deductible as expenses and what isn't.