How do I pay estimated taxes throughout the year?
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You can pay your federal estimated taxes throughout the year using several methods, and you are not limited to just one. The IRS provides multiple options for making estimated tax payments, which are generally required if you expect to owe at least $1,000 in tax for the year after subtracting your withholding and refundable credits, and your withholding and credits will be less than the smaller of 90% of your current year’s tax or 100% of your prior year’s tax (with special rules for higher-income taxpayers, farmers, fishermen, and nonresident aliens).
1. Payment Methods:
- Online Payments:
- You can pay directly from your bank account using IRS Direct Pay.
- You can use the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS), which allows you to schedule payments in advance and is available 24/7.
- You can pay by debit card, credit card, or digital wallet through IRS-approved payment processors (note that service fees may apply).
- You can also pay using the IRS2Go mobile app.
- By Mail:
- You can mail a check or money order with a payment voucher from Form 1040-ES to the address listed in the instructions for your location.
- By Phone:
- Payments can be made by phone using the EFTPS or IRS-approved payment processors.
- Other Methods:
- You can pay with cash at certain retail partners (see IRS.gov for participating locations).
- You can also apply an overpayment from your prior year’s tax return to your current year’s estimated tax.
Payment Schedule: Estimated tax payments are generally due in four installments for calendar year taxpayers:- 1st payment: April 15- 2nd payment: June 15 (June 16 in 2025, since June 15 is a Sunday)- 3rd payment: September 15- 4th payment: January 15 of the following year
If the due date falls on a weekend or legal holiday, the payment is due the next business day.
Reporting Payments: When you file your annual tax return (Form 1040), report all estimated tax payments you made during the year on line 26. Also include any overpayment from the prior year that you elected to apply to your current year’s estimated tax.
2. Special Notes:
- You can pay your estimated taxes in smaller, more frequent amounts (such as monthly or biweekly), as long as you have paid enough by the end of each quarter to avoid penalties.
- If you have both wage income and non-wage income, you may be able to increase your wage withholding to cover your total tax liability, potentially eliminating the need for separate estimated tax payments.
3. Summary of Steps:
1. Calculate your estimated tax liability for the year.
2. Choose your preferred payment method(s).
3. Make payments by the quarterly due dates.
4. Keep records of all payments.
5. Report your payments on your annual tax return.
For more details and to access payment portals, visit [IRS.gov/payments](
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"We’re incorporating Blue J to ensure our people are well-equipped with a research tool that delivers on both ease of use and quality of deliverable. It will save us a lot of time as a starting point, so we can focus our efforts on the analysis. Ultimately, it helps us get to the right answer, faster.”
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"We wanted something that lived up on their third screen - something that would be available and helpful to them every day. What we've found is it's been easy to get people to get into the habit of using Blue J because it helps people. Blue J allows us to quickly respond to client questions in a way that they can understand it, which helps us deal with the volume of client questions that come in. We were up and running very quickly with Blue J - within 5 minutes, our staff understood how this will be helpful, and the rest of the training program is refining prompting skills and building use cases and best practices."
