Yes, most of the time. A lash tech renting a booth or suite has no employer withholding taxes from her income, so the IRS expects her to pay as she earns, four times a year. The threshold is low: expect to owe $1,000 or more in federal tax for the year, and quarterly estimated payments are on your calendar.
The Form 1040-ES vouchers lash techs actually file
Estimated payments travel under Form 1040-ES. The form includes a worksheet and four payment vouchers, though in practice most techs skip the mail and pay online through the IRS in minutes. The due dates are Apr 15, Jun 15, Sep 15, and Jan 15 of the following year, and the second one arrives only two months after the first, which is why June is the estimate everyone forgets. Weekend and holiday due dates roll to the next business day.
What you are prepaying is the combination of income tax and the 15.3% self-employment tax on your net profit. Because full sets and fills are booked income with nothing withheld, even a part-time lash business clears the $1,000 trigger quickly; a tech netting $20,000 for the year is well past it.
Estimating a quarter from a booking app’s numbers
You do not need perfect numbers, you need honest ones. Your booking platform already knows your revenue for the quarter; export it. Subtract what you actually spent on the business: booth or suite rent, lash trays and adhesive, disposables, license renewals, continuing education, insurance, booking software. What is left is roughly your net profit for the quarter, and for most techs sending 25% to 30% of that number covers federal income tax plus self-employment tax, with the annual return truing up any difference. Tips count in the revenue number too, cash included.
Build the money before you need it: move your percentage of each payout into a separate tax savings account the day it lands, and pay each quarter from that account. Techs who wait until the due date to find the money are really borrowing from their own tax bill all quarter, and April is where that loan comes due with interest.
The safe harbor that stops underpayment penalties
Underpaying estimates triggers a penalty that works like interest on the shortfall, quarter by quarter. The escape hatch is the safe harbor: pay in at least 100% of last year's total tax (110% for high earners), spread evenly across the four dates, and no penalty applies regardless of how much more you owe in April. That makes a growth year manageable: match last year's tax through the quarters, bank the extra in your tax account, and settle the difference with the return.
In your first profitable year the safe harbor is especially friendly, since last year's tax may have been small or zero. Just do not confuse penalty avoidance with the bill disappearing; the April balance still lands, so the 25% to 30% habit stays the plan even in a safe-harbor year. And if a quarter is slow, send the smaller correct amount rather than skipping, because a skipped quarter is the pattern that snowballs.