@Helen123 ,
1. The requirement that you must be substantially current with your tax payments ( i.e. both the Federal and State tax liabilities through withholdings be enough to approx. meet the liabilities ) is generally computed quarterly and estimated payments are required else an interest charge is imposed. Assuming that your W-4 ( that you supplied to your employer) is correct, you should be sufficiently withheld.
2. The non-employment based incomes ( interest / dividends and other passive incomes and expected taxes thereon is often not allowed for on form W-4 and therefore , and if such incomes are substantial, it is advisable to either (a) make estimated payments quarterly or in the particular/ influencing quarter OR (b) file the tax return by 01/31/XX -- XX being filing season. You can always use TurboTax for the year to estimate tax liability or use the IRS withholding calculator to see if you need to make an estimated payment. Usually where one gets in trouble is at the State level because the States tend to less forgiving and always trying the last bit of income tax they can get.
3. If in doubt, then please consider making an estimated payment to both the federal and State -- if un-needed ( i.e. if the withholdings are sufficient ) then it comes back as refund. AS you have probably seen by now the US " voluntary" tax payment system puts the onus on the taxpayer ( and penalized if the responsibility is not met ) as opposed to the UK ( and many other countries ) where the PAYE / Taxed at Source or similar , puts the onus on the collector or the payor not the payee.
Thus , and assuming a correct W-4, your wages and Bonus payments and tax withholdings thereon should be sufficient to meet your obligations. Furthermore , the tax on your passive income ( which you should check anyhow ) is unlike to result in federal liabilities of more than US$1000 ( the trigger point for interest and penalty charges).
Obviously this is my opinion ( and I am in the dark about the quantum of incomes we are talking about ).
Is this connected to your earlier queries about transferring of monies between spouses ands countries ?
Is there more I can do for you ?
pk
