I owed a lot more in Federal taxes for 2024. I did not have to pay a penalty, though. TurboTax recommended making the estimated payments for 2025. I read that for 2025, the IRS will not just verify that I've paid the total amount of taxes that I owe, but it looks 4 times a year (when the estimated payments are due) to see if you've paid enough taxes at those points in the year. If you have not paid enough in taxes at any of those points, you will be charged a penalty at the end of the year even if you end up paying the total required amount in taxes. I chose not to update my W-4 for 2025 since it was already April when I filed my taxes, and. therefore, I had been underpaying for 4 months already in 2025. It would have taken a month for my company to increase my withholdings, so that would have been 5 months of underpaying. I plan to inform my company in November 2025 to increase my withholding amount so that I will not have to make estimated payments again in 2026. Am I correct in my thinking here? Thank you.
