The 1040-ES voucher that is due in January 2017 represents the last quarterly installment of 2016 taxes.
Whether you will owe a penalty and interest on your 2016 taxes depends on the amount of your underpayment.
Underpayment
Penalty
: It's important to know how it works
. The tax system is "pay as you
go" which means when you receive money the tax is due at that time and
the responsibility is yours. Anyone can wait until they file their return
to pay the tax, but if enough tax isn't paid when money is earned or received
then penalties will be applied for late payment.
There
are two exceptions to
the penalty (if you filed
with TurboTax in 2015 and transferred your information then this is automated
without your intervention:(
1. If 90% of the current (2016) year tax is paid on time through
withholding and/or estimated payments
2. If 100% of the 2015 total tax was paid on time through
withholding and/or estimated payments
If
estimated payments were made, but they were not paid on time, a penalty could
still exist.
