Thanks for the reply.
It is definitely not taxes due. You might have missed the info at the bottom of my question where I mention that I owe taxes to the state even though I paid the estimates last year. If one has underpaid in Ca is there a penalty due that can be avoided by paying the current (2025) estimates by April 15? I recall TT asking a question about this as I was doing the step by step, but when I tried to go back to find it after filing; I could not.
Of course I would prefer to pay in 3 installments as long as I will not owe a penalty due to my shortfall (taxes owed for 2024) I would think TT would be correct about this but cannot find a reference to this circumstance.
I did ask for Turbo tax to create estimates and this is what they provided; all due by April 15.
