@DFH
Yes, if you made estimated tax payments and you had higher income late in the year, you might be able to reduce the penalty by using the annualized income method on Form 2210. But it's a lot of work. What HACKITOFF is saying is that you can avoid having to do that by covering your tax with withholding instead of estimated tax payments. Withholding is always treated as having been paid evenly during the year, even if it's actually all withheld in December. As long as the total withholding for the year is enough, you will avoid a penalty altogether.
If you are taking RMDs from an IRA, having tax withheld from your RMD is an easy way to produce enough withholding. It's a lot simpler and easier than using the annualized income method.
If you rely on estimated tax payments, and your payments weren't enough, you are going to pay a penalty. If you had higher income late in the year, you might be able to reduce the penalty by using the annualized income method, but you aren't going to be able to eliminate the penalty. To completely avoid a penalty, you would have to make higher estimated tax payments later in the year to cover the tax on the higher income, and use the annualized income method.
