About Estimated Taxes and Schedule 1040 ES

Taxes must be paid as you earn or receive income during the year, either through withholding or estimated tax payments. If the amount of income tax withheld from your salary or pension is not enough, or if you receive income such as interest, dividends, alimony, self-employment income, capital gains, prizes and awards, you may have to make estimated tax payments.  Schedule 1040 ES is used to calculate estimated Tax payments.

If you are in business for yourself, you generally need to make estimated tax payments. Estimated tax is used to pay not only income tax, but other taxes such as self-employment tax and alternative minimum tax.

If you don’t pay enough tax through withholding and estimated tax payments, you may be charged a penalty. You also may be charged a penalty if your estimated tax payments are late, even if you are due a refund when you file your tax return.

Estimated tax requirements are different for farmers, fishermen, and certain higher income taxpayers. Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax, provides more information about these special estimated tax rules.

Who Must pay Estimated Taxes

You don’t have to pay estimated tax for the current year if you meet all three of the following conditions.

• You had no tax liability for the prior year

• You were a U.S. citizen or resident alien for the whole year

• Your prior tax year covered a 12-month period

When to pay estimated taxes

For estimated tax purposes, the year is divided into four payment periods. Each period has a specific payment due date. If you don’t pay enough tax by the due date of each of the payment periods, you may be charged a penalty even if you are due a refund when you file your income tax return.

Estimated tax payments are due as follows:

• January 1 to March 31 – April 15

• April 1 to May 31 – June 15

• June 1 to August 31 - September 15

• September 1 to December 31 – January 15 of the following year

Note: If these due dates fall on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the payments are due the next business day.

How to pay estimated taxes

You may send estimated tax payments with Form 1040-ES by mail, or you can pay online, by phone or from your mobile device using the IRS2Go app. You can also make your estimated tax payments through your online account, where you can see your payment history and other tax records. Go to IRS.gov/account. Visit IRS.gov/payments to view all the options. For additional information, refer to Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax.

Using the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) is the easiest way for individuals as well as businesses to pay federal taxes. Make ALL of your federal tax payments including federal tax deposits (FTDs), installment agreement and estimated tax payments using EFTPS. If it’s easier to pay your estimated taxes weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc. you can, as long as you’ve paid enough in by the end of the quarter. Using EFTPS, you can access a history of your payments, so you know how much and when you made your estimated tax payments.

Corporations must deposit the payment using the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System. For additional information, refer to Publication 542, Corporations.

Penalty for underpayment of estimated tax

If you didn’t pay enough tax throughout the year, either through withholding or by making estimated tax payments, you may have to pay a penalty for underpayment of estimated tax. Generally, most taxpayers will avoid this penalty if they owe less than $1,000 in tax after subtracting their withholdings and credits, or if they paid at least 90% of the tax for the current year, or 100% of the tax shown on the return for the prior year, whichever is smaller. There are special rules for farmers, fishermen, and certain higher income taxpayers. Please refer to Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax, for additional information.