Technically, you are required to pay estimated taxes at all times, either based on your income for that quarter or based on your expected income for the year. However, the IRS will not penalize you for not making payments if you paid into the system at least as much in 2022 as you paid in 2021. This means that if you paid zero tax in 2021, you can pay zero tax in 2022 and not get charged a penalty for skipping your estimates.