2025 Safe Harbor Calculation

[teamdeutsch]

Turbo Tax just calculated my 2025 estimated payments, but it appears it assumes my W-2 withholdings remain the same as 2024. My total tax for 2024 was $51,364 which means my 2025 safe harbor tax (110% of 2024) is $56,500. TT is estimating I need to pay $3,185 quarterly, but I am wondering if I only need to pay the difference between the $56,500 divided up quarterly equaling $14,126 minus the actual W-2 withholdings paid each quarter? 

Current Q1 W-2 withholdings: $13,295

Q1 portion of total 2025 Safe Harbor: $14,126 

Q1 Actual estimated tax payment need to be made: $832

Turbo Tax estimated Q1 payment: $3,185

[JohnB5677]

You are correct that safe harbor is 110% of 2024 Tax $51,365 X 1.10 = $56,500

• If you have $13,295 in withholdings, you still owe $43,205
• I'm not sure of what the other numbers mean.
• but you were correct that the total has to be $56,500.

[teamdeutsch]

I developed a tracker to determine how much federal taxes I was already making so that i could determine the delta from the total 2025 safe harbor amount so i knew how much i needed to pay directly to the IRS quarterly to account for not enough taxes being taken out of my paycheck. I was looking to see if I was approaching the math correctly since Turbo tax generated quarterly estimated payment coupons in the amount of $3,185/quarter which would cause me to grossly overpay if my math was correct.

[KeshaH]

The $3,185 can be made up of additional withholding, estimated payment, or a mix. Since your withholding is going to increase, then it's correct to reduce your estimated payment. You could also have even more come out of your paycheck to avoid having to make any estimated payment.