Q3 Estimated Taxes Due Today

[RetireBy90]

Just was reading about the estimated taxes as I've been doing some Roth conversions. Found that today is the due date for Q3 1040-ES. Hope that it is like filing taxes in that if it is postmarked 16 Sept is good enough.



Just in case others are like me and not old hands at figuring and paying these.



IRS Site with instructions and forms: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf


Looks like if it is postmarked today I'm ok

If you mail your payment and it is postmarked by the due date, the date of the U.S. postmark is considered the date of payment.

And some bad news for some:

No checks of $100 million or more accepted.

 

[JustCurious]

You can also pay estimated taxes online for free by ACH directly to the IRS.

https://www.irs.gov/payments

 

[Souschef]

I do mine with the IRS EFTPS site. i schedule all 4 payments and just make sure i have enough in my checking account to cover it.
I also do the same for my CA estimated taxes.

 

[calmloki]

I did a mix of ACH and mailed in taxes via USPS last time and found the ACHs to be a royal PITA. FYI.
Sent off our quarterlies last Thursday - wasn't like we were making any money on interest by holding them till today.

 

[pb4uski]

In early December I sketch out my tax return for the year in Excel and I update it occasionally during the month... in late December I'll do a tIRA distribution to pay my estimated tax for 2019.... since it is a withholding the IRS and the state count it as having been made evenly throughout the year so I don't have to worry about underpayment penalties or do that pesky Form 2210 Schedule AI.

P.S. Doesn't work for those under 59 1/2 unless you don't mind the 10% early withdrawal penalty.

 

[kaneohe]

I did a mix of ACH and mailed in taxes via USPS last time and found the ACHs to be a royal PITA. FYI.
Sent off our quarterlies last Thursday - wasn't like we were making any money on interest by holding them till today.

If you pay w/ a 2% rewards cc, you can hold your funds an extra 3.5-7 wks and make some in a 2% savings acct.

 

[MichaelB]

No checks of $100 million or more accepted.

Darn it.

 

[audreyh1]

IRS withdrew theirs first thing this morning as scheduled via eftps.gov a week ago.

 

[davebarnes]

My experience of filing estimated taxes since 1996 is that the quarterly deadlines are [unofficially] flexible.
I have paid as much as 25 days late and have never heard from them.
However, my checks are way smaller than $100M.
I have also paid early and never received a "thank you for paying us early".

 

[pb4uski]

IIRC the underpayment penalty and interest calculations are based on the number of days from when you paid compared to when you should have paid so being a day late doesn't change things a lot. Just from memory but glad that Ion't have to worry about that anymore.

 

[athena53]

If you pay w/ a 2% rewards cc, you can hold your funds an extra 3.5-7 wks and make some in a 2% savings acct.

Doesn't the "convenience fee" of 1.96% pretty much make the 2% reward useless? That's why I always pay by check.

 

[calmloki]

If you pay w/ a 2% rewards cc, you can hold your funds an extra 3.5-7 wks and make some in a 2% savings acct.

IRS card payment services charge 2.35% and up, Think California and Oregon are in that range as well. Now if I had to meet a minimum spend on a card to get a bonus it might be worthwhile, but luckily (?) we get a regular crop of largish bills.

 

[kaneohe]

Doesn't the "convenience fee" of 1.96% pretty much make the 2% reward useless? That's why I always pay by check.

pay1040.com charges "only" 1.87% so the spread is a bit larger there. YMMV so do your own calculations and see if it's worth it. The earnings on the 3.5-7wk float on paying the cc bill add to the benefit.

If you can manage to find a cc w/ >2% rewards, it helps a lot. Chase Freedom unlimited had a 3% reward tho it's capped at 20K. I read about
some folks using cc where the payment somehow falls into a 5% reward category (Paypal).........possibly that's capped too.

https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=276677

 

[Sunset]

You can also pay estimated taxes online for free by ACH directly to the IRS.

https://www.irs.gov/payments

Pd it last week.

I pay this way too, and it's easy to set it up weeks in advance, as there is a calendar to pick the pay date.

Besides with interest so low, I'm not missing anything by paying a few days in advance.

The limit this was is less than $10M per payment, but they are willing to take 2 per day.

 

[kaneohe]

IRS card payment services charge 2.35% and up, Think California and Oregon are in that range as well. Now if I had to meet a minimum spend on a card to get a bonus it might be worthwhile, but luckily (?) we get a regular crop of largish bills.

https://www.irs.gov/payments/pay-taxes-by-credit-or-debit-card

IRS cc fees are 1.87% to 1.99%. State tax fees are probably a bit higher.

 

[calmloki]

https://www.irs.gov/payments/pay-by-debit-or-credit-card-when-you-e-file

Fees shown as 2.35% to 3.93%

Weird. I'd choose your processors instead!

 

[kaneohe]

https://www.irs.gov/payments/pay-by-debit-or-credit-card-when-you-e-file

Fees shown as 2.35% to 3.93%

Weird. I'd choose your processors instead!

wow, never would have believed it w/o your link. It does say these are for
integrated IRS e-file and e-pay service providers so maybe it's different if you're not filing at the same time (like paying est. taxes). I do recall vaguely seeing some thread where someone was try to unbundle the filing and paying so that the charge would be less . I believe they were using TT and I see TT
listed as one of your providers so perhaps that explains that.

 

[W2R]

IRS withdrew theirs first thing this morning as scheduled via eftps.gov a week ago.

+1

And although I know you Texans don't have state taxes, we do. Here in Louisiana we have an online service similar to EFTPS, so Louisiana withdrew theirs at the same time as the IRS. All set.

 

[RetireBy90]

So lots of folks paying estimated taxes here, my mom passed this year and had some unexpected taxable from her estate. I paid estimated taxes today to include inheritance and all expected income through end of year. So my question is how does IRS know what quarter specific estimated tax is due. I certainly didn’t expect to the inheritance when it happened. So is there a problem if you don’t pay equal quarterly estimated taxes ? I plan to convert about $27K in Dec, and planned to send in a estimated tax payment then. Is this the wrong way to proceed ?

Thanks for any advice...

 

[lemming]

I threw money at them last week based on what I think I added to my tax bill because I sold a large block of stock. I only put in a small amount for 1st and 2nd quarter so I expect to get scolded for that even though the income came late in the year. I know there is a form to clear that up if needed.

 

[bolt]

I threw money at them last week based on what I think I added to my tax bill because I sold a large block of stock. I only put in a small amount for 1st and 2nd quarter so I expect to get scolded for that even though the income came late in the year. I know there is a form to clear that up if needed.

I bet the TAX crew appreciates this link:

 

[audreyh1]

I threw money at them last week based on what I think I added to my tax bill because I sold a large block of stock. I only put in a small amount for 1st and 2nd quarter so I expect to get scolded for that even though the income came late in the year. I know there is a form to clear that up if needed.

Yep, form 2210 will let you avoid any penalties if you paid taxes by what you owed based on income actually received each quarter.

 

[kaneohe]

...............................So my question is how does IRS know what quarter specific estimated tax is due. ........................ So is there a problem if you don’t pay equal quarterly estimated taxes ? I plan to convert about $27K in Dec, and planned to send in a estimated tax payment then. Is this the wrong way to proceed ?

....................

IRS does not know when specific estimated tax is due. Their default assumption is that income is received evenly throughout the yr and so they expect taxes to be paid accordingly. If you do not pay that way, it is your responsibility to show that your taxes matched or exceeded your tax obligation vs time via Sch AI of F2210. Even if you have a tax program helping you do the calculations, determining how the cash flowed in vs time is an interesting exercise. If you itemize deductions, you need to do the same exercise.

Actually you don't have to do this. You can just let IRS calculate the penalty for non-even tax payments. Sometimes it may even feel worthwhile not to go thru the calculations involved.

 

[USGrant1962]

Thanks for the heads up. This year is my first year paying quarterly taxes and I finally figured out that they are not actually due "quarterly". Who knew?

 

[jfn111]

I sent my checks in today for the qtrly taxes for my real estate commissions. I have a bad habit of overpaying so I don't worry about form 2210 for the uneven amounts. The new deduction for being self employed dramatically increased my refund last year.
I should probably be smarter and plan my payments better but my wife kinda likes the refunds as she lays claim to them.
(Happy wife happy life).