Confused about the "$1,000 in taxes" guideline

[MK210]

Hello, thanks for your time.

While it should be straightforward, I'm unable to understand the below bulleted sentence when reading through responses here.

• "Will you owe less than $1,000 in taxes for the tax year after subtracting your federal income tax withholding from the total amount of tax you expect to owe this

What determines $1,000 in taxes? Is that the amount that should've been withheld (i.e. if you had an employer they would withhold that in paychecks and it adds up overtime?)

[VolvoGirl]

It's  simply the tax due when you file your tax return.  Like if your withholding wasn't enough to cover the tax on your income.  If you are not getting a refund you have a tax due.  

[Mike9241]

It's complicated because certain taxes are included but not all and certain credits are allowed but not all. The result is the tax number. From that Federal withholding is subtracted to arrive at a balance. if the result is less than $1000 there is no penalty for failure to pay estimated taxes

see for 2210 and the instructions for the form.

https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs-search?search=2210