Guides · For freelancers
Setting money aside for taxes: a simple system
Many freelancers set aside 25 to 30% of each payment for taxes, and your accountant sets your number, because the right share depends on your country, your income and your costs. Whatever the number, the system is the same: move that share into a separate tax account the day each payment lands, log it in one note, and check the balance against an estimate every quarter.
This is not tax advice. The numbers below are illustrative, in USD. Confirm your rate, and when and how you pay, with an accountant who knows your situation.
Why a percentage of each payment
Freelance income is uneven. A fixed monthly amount is too much in a slow month and too little in a big one. A percentage grows and shrinks with what came in, and there’s nothing to decide: same rate, every payment, same day. The money leaves the account you spend from before it starts to look like yours.
The setup: one account, one rule
- Get your rate. Ask your accountant for one number: the share of each payment to set aside. Tell them you’ll apply it to what lands in your account, after platform fees, so the number fits.
- Open a tax account with no card attached. It isn’t savings and it isn’t your buffer. Keep it apart from your business and personal accounts.
- Move the share the day a payment lands. Not at month end: a payment that sits for three weeks starts to look spendable.
- If you charge VAT, GST or sales tax, that part was never income. Set it aside in full, and apply your rate to the rest.
A worked quarter, with sample numbers
A sample rate of 28%, applied to what landed:
| Payment (sample) | Landed | Set aside |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 1, retainer client | $1,500 | $420 |
| Jul 28, Bloom & Doom Florist, deposit | $2,400 | $672 |
| Aug 3, retainer client | $1,500 | $420 |
| Aug 18, Uphill Both Ways, after a 10% fee | $1,260 | $353 |
| Sep 1, retainer client | $1,500 | $420 |
| Sep 2, Bloom & Doom Florist, final | $2,400 | $672 |
| Quarter | $10,560 | $2,957 |
What’s left, $7,603, is what the quarter really paid for costs and for you.
The tracking note
One note for the tax account, shown with the sample’s first rows: the running record you and your accountant both read.
---
type: Account
description: Tax set-aside. 28% of every payment, moved the day it lands.
tags: [Finance, Business]
rate: 0.28
rate_set_on: 2026-01-20
---
# Tax set-aside
| Date | Payment | Landed | Moved | Balance |
|------------|----------------------|--------|-------|---------|
| 2026-07-01 | Retainer client | 1500 | 420 | 420 |
| 2026-07-28 | Bloom & Doom deposit | 2400 | 672 | 1092 |
Paid out
- YYYY-MM-DD: amount, and what it paid
Quarterly checks
- Q3: estimate 3100, held 2957, topped up 143. Asked about 30%.
The quarterly check
Once a quarter, and a couple of weeks before any tax payment is due, compare two numbers: what the account holds, and what your accountant estimates you owe so far.
- Short: top it up from the business account now, and ask whether the rate should rise. In the sample, the estimate is $3,100 and the account holds $2,957, so $143 moves over today.
- Well over: ask your accountant before moving any of it back.
Once a year, reset the rate with your accountant, using the year’s real numbers. And since effective hourly rates are worked out before tax, take the set-aside off to see what a client leaves you: at 28%, $94 an hour is about $68 (what each client is really worth).
Where Oknola fits
In Oknola, the tax account is a file like any other account. Log a payment and Oknola types, tags and files it, dated today, and the screens read the set-aside from those same files. Among the numbers it keeps for a freelancer are money set aside for taxes and months of buffer. You see the business month and your own side by side, and the tax set-aside grows before the quarter ends, not after. Your accountant sets your number; Finance keeps the balance honest. The transfer itself still happens at your bank.
See Finance and how it works for freelancers. What is available today is on the roadmap.
Questions people ask
Is 25 to 30% the right amount for me?
It’s a common range, not a rule. The right share depends on your country, your income, your costs and what you already pay during the year. Your accountant sets it, and it’s worth resetting every year.
Should I set aside from the invoice total or from what lands?
Pick one and tell your accountant, so the rate fits the base. What lands, after platform fees, is easier to follow, because it’s the money you can actually move.
Where should the tax money sit?
In its own account, with no card, where you can reach it the day a payment is due. Leave it out of the balance you think of as safe to spend.
Do I still need an accountant?
Yes. This system keeps the money ready. An accountant tells you how much is right, what you can deduct and when to pay.