2018 tax pre-payments necessary?

[rinawolok]

On my Tax Returns print-outs, the instructions say to make four pre-payments for 2018 over the course of the coming year. Is this required, or is this just a suggestion from TurboTax? The instructions say that I could incur an underpayment penalty if I don't do the pre-payments, but I'm confused because I've never done pre-payments before for taxes, and I've never incurred penalties. What should I do? Thanks!

[JulieCo]

It depends.  The estimated tax payments for 2018 are not required, but you will incur a penalty if your taxes are underpaid for the year.  The estimated tax voucher payments are to help prevent a penalty from occurring.  If you have W-2 income, another option is that you can fill out a new W-4 form and increase the taxes withheld by your employer.  Be sure to check out some of the articles included in the links below to help you decide whether to use/pay them or not. 

Here are scenarios plus information for when estimated tax vouchers for 2018 are generated in TurboTax.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3301872

https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3301891