conniem123
Employee Tax Expert

Self employed

Hi lorinye!

 

Thank you for your questions today!

 

While there is no penalty for mailing your estimated tax penalty late, there is an underpayment penalty which will depend on how much you owe and how long you have owed it to the IRS.

 

This underpayment penalty is calculated when you prepare your tax return. The safest option to avoid an underpayment penalty is to aim for "100 percent of your previous year's taxes." If your previous year's adjusted gross income was more than $150,000 (or $75,000 for those who are married and filing separate returns last year), you will have to pay in 110 percent of your previous year's taxes to satisfy the "safe-harbor" requirement. If you satisfy this test, you won't have to pay an estimated tax penalty, no matter how much tax you owe with your tax return.

If you expect your income this year to be less than last year and you don't want to pay more taxes than you think you will owe at year end, you can choose to pay 90 percent of your current year tax bill. If the total of your estimated payments and withholding add up to less than 90 percent of what you owe, you may face an underpayment penalty. So you may want to avoid cutting your payments too close to the 90 percent mark to give yourself a safety net.

If you expect your income this year to be more than your income last year and you don't want to end up owing any taxes when you file your return, then make enough estimated tax payments to pay 100 percent of your current year income tax liability.

 

Oregon also assesses underpayment penalty.  You can make your OR state payments on their website,  https://www.oregon.gov/dor/Pages/Payments.aspx  , or you can mail a check or money order to: Oregon Department of Revenue. PO Box 14003. Salem OR 97309-2502.

 

I hope this information is helpful.  Have a great day!

Connie

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