the tax laws assume your income is earned evenly throughout the year. therefore 1/4 of your annual taxes must be paid in each period. However, there is a way to avoid penalty and that is to use the annualized income installment method (AIIM) for the whole year. see 2210 page 3. This is the only way to minimize or eliminate these penalties. however, you do have an option with withholding taxes if you have them. By default 1/4 of the annual total is assumed to be withheld each period. You can elect to use actual withholding for each period. you'll still have to use THE AIIM
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f2210.pdf
