On an application I would but 5-10% above the mean in your area. Everyone knows this is negotiable here and you don't want to come across as someone that needs to undercut the competition. I would suggest (and did myself) 15-25% above my "survival" income needed so I had some safety margin. But if I delivered on time and under budget for the project I was supposed to complete in 90 days, I was locked in at what the upper 5% of my area expect to make after a year of experience. I had little more than my degree walking in to the interview but I knew I could rise to the occasion. Them paying me more was a no-brainer if I delivered as I'd be earning them multiple times what that would cost with one project. Getting that 270 days early put my annual income above the upper bound of starting wages in my area.
Taxes: W2/W4- married? Kids? No and no- no deductions (everyone else skippy skip), nothing exceptional with withholding, the form is really that easy. Keep your pay statements somewhere, file your taxes after January and before April, the government will send you a check a couple weeks after you do. 1099: 1/3 of the money in your paycheck is not yours. Every quarter you will need to fill out a form and send Uncle Sam a check for 1/4-1/3 of your wages. If you do not do this or don't pay enough, there is a penalty percentage added at the end of the year. Do not spend what's left of that 1/3, it is not yours yet. After January, but before April, file your taxes. Once Uncle Sam says they owe you that year or you don't owe them, then that money is yours. Hold on to those statements for 7 years, if you made an honest/good-faith effort even with the worst audit outcome the potential damage is very limited. The IRS wants you employed and making some agreed-upon payments, jail and terror are counterintuitive.
