Questions on How to Pay Estimated Quarterly Taxes

Forum|Forum|5 months ago
January 9, 2026
1 reply
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Hello - I have a question on how I can pay estimated taxes for this year.

My wife and I both have W2 jobs that make witholding tax payments for us throughout the year. However, my wife got a side job (1099 job) in Q4 of this year and I am looking to pay our estimated taxes on just that income. She made about $5,500 in net income from the side job.

Considering both our W2 jobs and her 1099 job, we will be in the 22% tax bracket for 2025. I am trying to pay only our estimated taxes on her side job earnings, but am using the 1040ES form, and the standard deduction that we will take for filing married and jointly at the end of the year when we file taxes on TurboTax for our W2 jobs MFJ is above her income for this period so I am confused about the amount I should pay. I was not aware that we could submit a W4 and have our W2 employers withold more in taxes for us (we may do that next year).

I just want to know the amount of estimated taxes I should pay on this 1099 job as I belive our income from our W2 jobs is not relevent for this estimated payment. I have seen places suggest 25% but I wanted to know if that was accurate.

Thanks for the help!

TurboTax Free Edition Online

Best answer by Mike9241

You can use a 4th quarter 2025 -1040-ES that can be mailed to the IRS, the other option is to use the IRS payment page. Direct pay requires creating an account

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f1040es--2025.pdf

https://www.irs.gov/payments

There may be ways to reduce this additional taxable income. We don't have enough info to determine if this is possible.

For simplicity, if this income is going to be taxed a 22% (additional ordinary income is taxed at the highest tax brackets you're in) + 15% for the self-employment tax (assume she has not maxed out her social security wages). So you would need to pay about 37% of her net self-employment income by 1/15/2026. This is a guess because the different items in your return could result in more or less taxes than this. You may not need to pay anything or pay less because of the safe harbor rules that allow you to avoid underpayment of estimated tax penalties even if you owe

note that in your situation, an estimated tax payment now (by 1/15/2026) would only count for the 4th quarter.

The default method for computing underpayment of estimated tax penalties is 1/4 of your taxes are due each period (1/1-3/31; 4/1-5/31; 6/1- 8/31 and 9/1-12/31). 1/4 of your withholding taxes are assumed to be paid each period, though you can use actual for each period. Using the annualized income installment method might be required because the default method assumes 1/4 of her SE income is earned each period and thus 1/4 of the taxes on it are due each period.

There will be no federal underpayment of estimated tax penalties if federal withholding
1) ~~and timely estimated tax payments~~ equals or exceeds 90% of your 2025 tax or
2) ~~and timely estimated tax payments~~ equals or exceeds 100% of your 2024 tax (110% if your 2024 adjusted gross income was more than $150K) or
3) the balance due after subtracting federal taxes withheld from 90% of your 2025 tax is less than $1,000 or
~~4) your total taxes are less than $1,000~~

if you have sate income taxes the law will differ

Mike9241

Answer

Level 15

You can use a 4th quarter 2025 -1040-ES that can be mailed to the IRS, the other option is to use the IRS payment page. Direct pay requires creating an account

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f1040es--2025.pdf

https://www.irs.gov/payments

There may be ways to reduce this additional taxable income. We don't have enough info to determine if this is possible.

For simplicity, if this income is going to be taxed a 22% (additional ordinary income is taxed at the highest tax brackets you're in) + 15% for the self-employment tax (assume she has not maxed out her social security wages). So you would need to pay about 37% of her net self-employment income by 1/15/2026. This is a guess because the different items in your return could result in more or less taxes than this. You may not need to pay anything or pay less because of the safe harbor rules that allow you to avoid underpayment of estimated tax penalties even if you owe

note that in your situation, an estimated tax payment now (by 1/15/2026) would only count for the 4th quarter.

The default method for computing underpayment of estimated tax penalties is 1/4 of your taxes are due each period (1/1-3/31; 4/1-5/31; 6/1- 8/31 and 9/1-12/31). 1/4 of your withholding taxes are assumed to be paid each period, though you can use actual for each period. Using the annualized income installment method might be required because the default method assumes 1/4 of her SE income is earned each period and thus 1/4 of the taxes on it are due each period.

There will be no federal underpayment of estimated tax penalties if federal withholding
1) ~~and timely estimated tax payments~~ equals or exceeds 90% of your 2025 tax or
2) ~~and timely estimated tax payments~~ equals or exceeds 100% of your 2024 tax (110% if your 2024 adjusted gross income was more than $150K) or
3) the balance due after subtracting federal taxes withheld from 90% of your 2025 tax is less than $1,000 or
~~4) your total taxes are less than $1,000~~

if you have sate income taxes the law will differ

Mike9241

A

a1050Author

Level 2

Thanks for the help Mike!

If I am in PA does this change anything for me?

Mike9241

Level 15

living in PA does not affect the federal info provided, but PA does have an income tax, and so do some cities in PA. I'm not familiar with the income tax laws in PA and localities

i have provided a link to some PA info. you can also check the state website

https://allaboutfinance.org/state-income-tax-faq/does-pa-have-a-state-income-tax?msclkid=9e2cae202690118616f3c740e7bc1e97&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=State+Income+Tax+FAQ-New&utm_term=Does+Pa+Have+a+State+Income+Tax&utm_content=Does+Pa+Have+a+State+Income+Tax-New&Category=state-income-tax-faq&Article=does-pa-have-a-state-income-tax

And here's some additional information regarding PA estimated tax payments

https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/revenue/documents/formsandpublications/formsforindividuals/pit/documents/2025/2025_rev-413i.pdf

Mike9241