Hi Lorinye,
Thanks for your questions!
1. "I just paid 2 quarters of federal estimated taxes at once. Is there a penalty for not mailing the quarterly payments before the date they are due?"
The IRS expects you to pay each quarterly estimate by the deadline for that quarter. If you miss one, you should make the quarterly tax payment as soon as you can.
Some people think, “Well, I already missed this quarterly payment. I’ll just wait until next quarter to make it up.”
Unfortunately, that's a big mistake.
Why? Because the underpayment tax penalty is calculated by:
- How much you you owed, and
- How long it took before you finally paid.
In other words, you’ll pay more the longer you wait.
Once a due date has passed, the IRS will typically charge, 0.5% of the entire amount you owe.
For each partial or full month you don’t pay the tax in full, the penalty increases. It's capped at 25%.
What we listed above are rules of thumb that will help you get a sense of your potential penalty. But the actual penalty will fluctuate.
That's because it includes interest for missed payments, and the interest rate can change from quarter to quarter.
Penalties are based on the quarter — not the year
It's entirely possible to pay the correct amount for the year, but still get penalized for underpayment in a specific quarter.
To take things further, you can even overpay your taxes for the year as a whole, and still get penalized, if you you were short for any individual quarter.
2." I owe Oregon quarterly payments, and hove not made any payments yet. Is there a penalty for that?"
You will owe a 5 percent late-payment penalty on any Oregon tax not paid by the original due date of the return, even if you have filed an extension. If you file more than three months after the due date (including extensions), a 20 percent late-filing penalty will be added.
For more informaion pertaining to quarterly estimates and penalties, you can chec out these links:
Understanding Quarterly Taxes
Underpayment of Estimated Taxes IRS
Oregon Penalties and Interest
Please let me know if you hav any additional questions or need further clarification, lorinye.
Thanks,
Terri H.
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Terri Lynn
