dmertz
Level 15

Get your taxes done using TurboTax

If your predicted 2025 income produces estimated tax payments less than that required to meet the safe-harbor based on last year's tax liability and your prediction is low, you might end up with a penalty.  I always just go by the safe-harbor based on last year's tax liability and just lower my Q4 estimated tax payment if it will be too high relative to my actual tax liability that I determine in early January.  I'll generally know within about $100 what my tax liability ends up being once I get all of the forms reporting my income.  The only variable at that point is knowing how much of various dividends are qualified dividends.  To be safe, I can assume that all of the dividends are nonqualified and pay a bit more in estimated taxes than necessary in early January, then adjust my next Q1 estimated tax payment to reflect whatever overpayment that I apply to the following year.