Freelance Income Follow-Up

So much like in my last post, all the good advice I received here ended up being moot—my employer added my freelance income to my regular paycheck and withheld 401(k) contribution and taxes from it. I guess I'm glad to have the extra 401(k) contribution, but to see my $335-ish check dwindle to $205 (for a month and a half's work) is a little...well, pathetic. It's enough to make a girl want to pad her invoice!

And doesn't that withholding seem a little excessive? If you subtract the 401(k) (less than $25), it ends up looking like I'm in a 33+% tax bracket, which, I assure you, I am not. Maybe they're doing this to cover the self-employment tax? Or maybe I'm just going to get a big fat tax refund...which is fine, I mean, I'm not opposed to that (interest-free loan blah blah notwithstanding) but I do actually need the money to cover my grad school applications, so I'm sort of thinking of taking an extra exemption.

Anyway, I'm opening an Electric Orange checking account for this money, which seems the best of both worlds—interest and easy access. I don't want to have to scoot this money around too much (it's too slow and annoying), and since I know I'm going to be spending it, it seems expedient to slap it into an account with a debit card, so I can charge related expenses directly to it. I've already spent $140 of the $200 on the GRE registration fee, anyway.