about using refund for next year's estimated taxes

Forum|Forum|3 months ago
April 1, 2026
1 reply
412 views

Hi, I want to use some of my refund to pay estimated taxes for next year, but I'm a little confused.

I'm using Turbotax Deluxe online.

I have a Federal refund of $4,000 I want to apply $1,000 of it to my estimated tax payment made quarterly ( $250 each quarter). When I enter the information in my Turbotax the running total of the refund drops by $1,000 and it says it will divide the payments into 4 equal parts. But only the first quarter's payment will be filed. My question is, where do the remaining payment dollars reside? Does the Federal gov hold it until I schedule the appropriate quarter's payment (since my refund running total was lowered)? I have the same situation with the NY state refund? I know the first quarter will be filed with my state filing but again , where does the remaining money for the estimated payments sit. I apologize in advance if I'm not being very clear. I'm new to Turbotax and e-filing in general.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks

Dave

TurboTax Deluxe Online

Best answer by Mike9241

There isn't any way to do what you want. The $1000 will be applied to the first quarter, so you can reduce the payment required, which seems to make more sense than making larger payments each period

you can always cross out the precalculated amount on the 1040-ES and pay what you want.

Mike9241

Answer

Level 15

There isn't any way to do what you want. The $1000 will be applied to the first quarter, so you can reduce the payment required, which seems to make more sense than making larger payments each period

you can always cross out the precalculated amount on the 1040-ES and pay what you want.

Mike9241