[clogston]

> The author also doesn't show how the federal income tax is fundamentally different to what an employee would pay

Not disagreeing. For anyone wondering what the fundamental differences are:

1) As an independent contractor you are responsible for 100% of your FICA tax (social security and medicare tax). For most people the tax due is 15% of your income. This is in addition to your income tax. In an employee/employer relationship the employer pays for half of this. It can be a big shock to people who are hit with this for the first time.

2) If you're an employee, your employer is automatically withholding your income tax payments for you and sending them in to the IRS at a regular interval. As an independent contractor you need to be doing this yourself. If you wait until the end of the year and pay as one lump sum you'll likely be penalized.

[eurleif]

>If you wait until the end of the year and pay as one lump sum you'll likely be penalized.

In general, you don't have to pay estimated quarterly taxes in your first year of earning self-employment income. And after you file taxes for your first year, the IRS will inform you that you need to start paying estimated taxes. So it's not super-easy to accidentally get a penalty for this.

[eurleif]

>As an independent contractor you are responsible for 100% of your FICA tax (social security and medicare tax).

You can deduct half of the self-employment tax from the gross income on your income tax. So, for example, if your income tax rate were 25%, you would effectively pay 87.5% of FICA, not 100%. There may also be deductions on state taxes.