Turn off Estimated Tax Payment Vouchers

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
June 13, 2025
6 replies
95 views

Received a notice from Colo Dept, of Revenue today stating have penalty because payment(s) of estimated tax were missed or were not made.

I ds see TT printed out four (4) quarterly vouchers again for 2025, like TT did for 2024. I ignored them as I pay what I owe when I file my tax return ( or some years get a refund) . Evidently it something TT is filing on my behalf?

How do I rescind- TURN IT OFF

Please advise

Best answer by VolvoGirl

Expert Reviewed

The quarterly estimated payment slips are optional to pay. The 1040ES or state quarterly estimated tax payments DO NOT get sent to the IRS or state with your return. So they won't be expecting them. The penalty is not based on them. Except that you probably should have sent some in.

The penalty is an "estimated" amount. It's a penalty if you owe too much or for not paying in enough withholding during the year or not paying in evenly. Even if you are getting a refund you can still owe a penalty. It's very common and normal and expected for the IRS or state to bill you for more or send you a refund.

You might be able to eliminate it or at least reduce it. You can go to Federal Taxes tab or Personal tab, under Other Tax Situations and select Start by the Underpayment Penalties. You will answer a series of questions that may reduce or eliminate the penalty. Or you can elect to have the IRS figure the penalty for you. It's form 2210.

It's under

Federal or Personal (for Home & Business Desktop)

Other Tax Situations

Additional Tax Payments

Underpayment Penalties - Click the Start or update button

VolvoGirlAnswer

Level 15

Expert Reviewed

The quarterly estimated payment slips are optional to pay. The 1040ES or state quarterly estimated tax payments DO NOT get sent to the IRS or state with your return. So they won't be expecting them. The penalty is not based on them. Except that you probably should have sent some in.

The penalty is an "estimated" amount. It's a penalty if you owe too much or for not paying in enough withholding during the year or not paying in evenly. Even if you are getting a refund you can still owe a penalty. It's very common and normal and expected for the IRS or state to bill you for more or send you a refund.

You might be able to eliminate it or at least reduce it. You can go to Federal Taxes tab or Personal tab, under Other Tax Situations and select Start by the Underpayment Penalties. You will answer a series of questions that may reduce or eliminate the penalty. Or you can elect to have the IRS figure the penalty for you. It's form 2210.

It's under

Federal or Personal (for Home & Business Desktop)

Other Tax Situations

Additional Tax Payments

Underpayment Penalties - Click the Start or update button

J

john sunny

Level 2

No, this is not the answer. My understanding is that once you start estimated quarterly payments in a tax year, then you always have to have quarterly estimated payments for all future years. I do not want to start these estimated payment vouchers but Turbo Tax tries to insert them every year. We used to be able to go into "Forms" and delete the Vouchers. Can we still do this? I e-file and do not want to take any sort of chance for the IRS to expect Vouchers for the next tax year. No Vouchers! How do we turn them off and it's not a matter of simply "ignoring them." The mention of Vouchers for quarterly payments should not be mentioned in the filing instructions to "ignore" or not include, because there is no assurance that the IRS is not expecting them otherwise.

J

john sunny

Level 2

If you've never made estimated quarterly payments before then do not start. Doesn't it lock you in and require estimated payments for the next year and all years in the future? Once you start you can't stop it. Simply adjust your withholding on W4 at work and don't fall into the estimated payments trap. Turn off this automatic insertion of estimated payment voucher forms in Turbo Tax.

baldietax

Level 12

Sounds like you need to be paying ES rather than ignoring TT, for both Fed and State. If you got a notice from CO presumably you will get one from Fed also.

You need to pay thru the year via withholding or timely (usually quarterly) estimated tax, the smaller of 100% of your 2024 tax (110% if AGI > 150k) or 90% of your 2025 tax - this is your 'safe harbor' amount. Check CO tax code if they use the same or different.

However, note TT will generate ES vouchers based on your 2024 tax by default, assuming your 2025 withholding is the same as 2024. If your income is stable that can often be an overpayment in ES. You need to determine what your safe harbor amount is. In TT under Other Tax Situations / Form W4 and Estimated Tax Payments you can provide 2025 information and it will update the vouchers if paying ES baed on current year tax is more advantageous. If using desktop TT check Forms mode, "Est Tax Options" to see the calculation.

If you owe ES you can also increase withholding to cover it, tho there are only 6 months left in the year to make up for that.

If you do need to pay ES but didn't pay Q1 ES then you can minimize the penalty by paying 50% of the total ES for the year in Q2 (due date 6/16/25). You will still get some penalty for missing Q1 but the sooner you pay it the sooner the penalty stops accruing.

Finally to make ES payments, don't bother with checks and vouchers, pay IRS directly online if able at irs.gov

For more info on ES see https://www.irs.gov/faqs/estimated-tax