Today TaxMama hears from Teresa in Tennessee who blundered “I need to start paying estimated taxes; but it is too late to make the 1st quarter payment for this year. Can I start with the 2nd quarter?”
Dear Teresa,
Actually, you can still make the first payment. Since the payment is a couple of weeks late, your penalties will be very low. Then, just start making all the other installments on time.
In fact, you can schedule your installment payments to be made automatically by signing up for IRS’s EFTPS service. That’s their Electronic Federal Tax Payment System https://www.eftps.gov/eftps/ .
It costs nothing to set up or use, since they take the money directly from your bank account. Even when you’ve scheduled all the payments in advance, you can change the amount of the installment any time if your income changes for the quarter. Or you can change the date, if you won’t have enough money in the account on time.
Best news of all, you have an electronic receipt for the payment – AND you can print out a summary of your payments when it comes time to prepare your tax return!
And remember, you can find answers to all kinds of questions about estimated tax payments and other tax issues, free. Where? Where else? At TaxMama.com
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- IRS’ EFTPS service :: Electronic Federal Tax Payment System
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