Is there a guide for estimating next years taxes?

[mcampbellcrockett]

When preparing my 2019 Federal and California, I used the TurboTax estimated taxes worksheet to determine the estimated taxes that I would need to pay quarterly in 2020.  TurboTax 2019 claimed that I would not have to make quarterly payments.  Unfortunately, TurboTax 2020 calculations indicate my tax liability exceeds the $1000 safe heaven amount and now needed to pay a tax penalty.

With regard to Social Security, do you enter the gross amount you expect to receive or the taxable amount?

If you have a loss carry forward, should you enter that in the worksheet or does TurboTax loss data from your current return?

Any recommendations on how to fill out the estimated tax worksheet would be appreciated.

[npierson7]

To avoid underpayment penalty in 2021, you should enter in the worksheet your Gross income amount.

There is a good guidance how to determine your estimated taxes:

Estimated Taxes: How to Determine What to Pay and When

[mcampbellcrockett]

The link that you provided doesn't answer my original question nor does it address what I view as a bug in TurboTax' Estimated Tax preparation using EasyStep.  If you don't receive a W-2 from employment and aren't self-employed, the Enter Investment Gains and Losses page is the first page that you are asked to enter for calculating your Federal estimated taxes.

Nowhere on the Enter Investment Gains and Losses page is there any statement indicating that the data entered on this page must also be incorporated into the data entered Enter (year) Other Income page.  While the Learn More link on the Enter Other Income page indicates that dividends should be included, one would not normally re-enter the Qualified Dividends that were entered on the Enter Investment Gains and Losses page.

The Enter Investment Gains and Losses page data is totally ignored in computing one's estimated taxes.  It isn't until you look at the Estimated Taxes and W-4 Worksheet that you discover that the investment gains and losses data needs to be included in the amount entered on the Other Income page.

[ReneeM7122]

There is an estimated tax calculator tool that you can use, which will help you calculate your estimated taxes with investment gains and losses factored in.  Here is the link:

https://apps.irs.gov/app/tax-withholding-estimator

@mcampbellcrockett