Alicia, and everyone else, I appreciate the responses I have been reading regarding estimating quarterly payments.
I will need to pay quarterly taxes in 2023 for the first time. I don't think I'll make as much as I did in 2022, but I was thinking I would target 100% of 2022's taxes just incase things pick up later in the year. To that end, can I just take one of the following values from my 2022 1040 form to use as my estimate?
Line 24 ("This is your total tax") and divide by 4?
Line 37 ("This is the amount you owe") and divide by 4?
I would prefer to go with line 37 as it is about 1/4 the amount of line 24, but am uncertain what penalties look like if I am too low.
On a side note, I don't understand why the IRS doesn't have us submit our quarterly taxes based on actual income instead of an estimate. It seems ridiculous to be penalized for an estimate that comes in low. My Magic 8 Ball hasn't been very reliable over the years so I'm left to my own devices.
