Get Bent, Tax Man!

With exception to the rather general knowledge that you need to file your taxes by April 15th every year, I know next-to-nothing about taxes and how they work. I know that I make money, the government takes a [frequently large] portion of it and, come April 15th, I sometimes get money back from the government or owe them some small amount. This has, in the past, been all I need to know about taxes, as I do mine online via H&R Block's online tax filing service.

However, that limited knowledge seems to no longer be adequate for my reporting purposes as I am currently being paid under 1099 status and, for the first time ever, have business expenses I would want to write off.

I have no idea why I'm telling you this, except to say that, if, come the next quarterly tax filing date (sometime in January?), I stop writing, it's because the IRS has reclaimed my possessions due to non-payment of money they believe I owe them.

Actually, seriously, the only reason I think to write about this is because I was wondering if anyone who actively reads this blog has any suggestions as to how I can avoid being charged with tax evasion. I don't have an accountant and I don't really know any ...