Methodology and Sources

This page explains how CedarBill calculators, templates, and educational content are produced and reviewed.

Reviewed by: CedarBill Editorial Team
Review date: October 20, 2026

Salary calculations

The salary calculator uses the amount, hours per week, and weeks per year entered by the user.

• Annual pay = hourly rate × hours per week × weeks per year.
• Hourly rate = annual salary ÷ hours per week ÷ weeks per year.
• Monthly pay = annual pay ÷ 12.
• Biweekly pay = annual pay ÷ 26.
• Weekly pay = annual pay ÷ weeks per year.
• Daily pay assumes five working days per week.

The default schedule is 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, or 2,080 hours a year. Results are gross figures before tax, benefits, unpaid leave, overtime, or other deductions. Occupational wage comparisons link to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.

The detailed salary pages ($50k a year, $69k a year, $50 an hour) add three figures:

• Take-home pay: a single filer with W-2 wages, the 2026 standard deduction ($16,100) and the 2026 federal brackets from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, minus Social Security (6.2% up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500) and Medicare (1.45%, plus 0.9% above $200,000), per the SSA. State and local income tax, credits and pre-tax deductions are excluded.
• Wage benchmarks: the all-occupations median ($50,980) and mean ($69,770) annual wage from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
• Freelance break-even rate: salary × 1.0765 ÷ 1,560. The 7.65% is the employer's share of Social Security and Medicare a freelancer pays themselves; 1,560 hours assumes 75% of a 2,080-hour year is billable. Benefits are excluded, so the true break-even rate is higher.

1099 self-employment tax estimate

The 1099 calculator applies the federal self-employment tax calculation to net self-employment income:

• Net earnings subject to self-employment tax = net self-employment income × 92.35%.
• Social Security tax = 12.4% of covered net earnings, limited by the 2026 Social Security wage base and reduced by W-2 wages already subject to Social Security tax.
• Medicare tax = 2.9% of covered net earnings.
• Net self-employment income below $400 returns no self-employment tax estimate.

The calculation follows the general IRS self-employment tax guidance and references the Social Security contribution and benefit base. It does not calculate federal or state income tax, credits, deductions, filing-status effects, or the additional 0.9% Medicare tax that may apply above statutory thresholds. The 25–30% set-aside range is a planning heuristic, not a tax liability calculation.

Net payment terms

Due dates add the term's number of calendar days to the invoice date, calculated in UTC so the result does not shift with the reader's time zone. Weekends and holidays are not skipped. The cost of an early-payment discount is annualized as discount ÷ (100 − discount) × 365 ÷ (term − discount days). Federal payment timing references the Prompt Payment Act guidance from the Bureau of the Fiscal Service.

Markup

The markup calculator is exact arithmetic on the figures entered: price = cost × (1 + markup), margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup). It uses no external data.

Sales tax reference data

State sales tax pages use statewide rates and population-weighted average combined state and local rates from the Tax Foundation state and local sales tax rate dataset, recorded as of January 1, 2026.

The ten detailed state guides add facts that differ by state: the remote-seller economic nexus threshold (checked against the Sales Tax Institute economic nexus guide, including Kentucky's removal of its 200-transaction test on August 1, 2026), grocery and clothing treatment (grocery rules checked against AARP's 2026 state survey), intrastate sourcing, Streamlined Sales Tax membership, and a link to each state's tax authority. Facts were last checked on October 20, 2026.

These pages are state-level references and average-rate estimators. They are not ZIP-code, street-address, city, county, product-taxability, nexus, or filing lookups. Local rates and taxable categories vary. Users should verify the applicable rate with the relevant state department of revenue or local tax authority.

Invoice templates and guidance

Profession pages are based on common billing patterns such as hourly work, project fees, milestone billing, deposits, materials, retainers, and net payment terms. The examples are editable starting points, not required contractual language. Legal, tax, licensing, and invoice requirements vary by location and business type.

Source selection

We prefer primary government sources for legal or tax requirements and clearly identified data publishers for aggregated statistics. A page should identify the source, reference date, assumptions, and important limitations near the result rather than hiding them in a general disclaimer.

Review and update process

Scheduled updates, by source:

• Federal tax figures (brackets, standard deduction, Social Security wage base): every autumn, after the IRS and SSA publish the next year's figures (usually October).
• Sales tax rates: every year, after the Tax Foundation publishes its January 1 rates (usually in February).
• State rules (nexus thresholds, grocery and clothing treatment): checked at least every six months, and when a state announces a change.
• Wage benchmarks: every year, after BLS releases the next Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics period (usually in spring).

Material calculator or factual pages display a review date and the CedarBill Editorial Team as reviewer. We review a page when its source publishes a new period, when a law or rate changes, or when a credible correction is received. A visible review date means the page was checked on that date; it does not guarantee that every external rule remains unchanged afterward.

Corrections

Send corrections to support@cedarbill.com with the affected URL, the disputed statement or value, an authoritative source, and the effective date. We update confirmed errors and revise the review date when the underlying content has materially changed.