This planner exists because the tax year is a sequence, not a single calculation. The shape of the business and the filing status come first, because they decide which rules the year's figures run under. The expected net income and state come next, because they are the exact inputs both tax calculators start from. What is already covered comes last, because it only means something against the other two — and because the quarterly calculator subtracts it before dividing. The plan view then holds the four pieces together: your entries, the deadlines, the hand-offs, and the record of what has been paid.
What the planner deliberately does not do
It does not estimate your tax. Two calculators on this site already run the full 2026 engine — self-employment tax, federal brackets, state rates — and they agree with each other because they share it. A third copy of that math, inside a planner, could only drift out of agreement with them. So the plan view shows no tax figure of its own: the two buttons in Step 4 open the calculators with your figures already in the right fields, and the number you act on is always the calculator's own. The planner also does not ask for anything the hand-off cannot honestly use. There is no field for other income, for example, because neither calculator accepts one — a figure with nowhere true to go is not collected.
How the saving works
Your entries and tracker are stored in your browser's local storage, on the device you are using, under a key only this planner reads. There is no account, no sync, and no transmission: closing the tab keeps the plan, returning to this page reopens it on the plan view, and the Clear saved plan button deletes it from the device and resets the planner to Step 1. On a shared computer, clear the plan when you are done — anyone using this browser on this device would otherwise find it as you left it.
Planning aid only — not tax advice. This planner organises entries and reproduces the 2026 estimated-tax due dates from IRS Form 1040-ES and Publication 505, via the site's deadlines page. The calculators it hands off to provide estimates only. Verify deadlines and figures at irs.gov or with a qualified tax professional.