Transitioning from full-time employment to freelancing or consulting can be a shock when tax season arrives. Most developers make the critical mistake of taking their target annual salary and dividing it by 2,080 hours (40 hours × 52 weeks). That calculation fails because it ignores three key realities of self-employment: Self-Employment Taxes : You pay both the employer and employee portions of social security and Medicare (or national equivalents). Non-Billable Admin Time : 20% t...