Do I have to fill the 1040ES form for prepaying estimated tax? Does TurboTax have such a tool?

[szhao]

1. If the only reason for me to prepay estimated tax is the sale of stock (my wage is properly withheld), do I still need to fill the details in the 1040ES form, which asks about wage, tax already paid, etc.?  Can I just make the payment at the amount of about 33% short-term gain and 15% long-term gain for now, even if I do not have to prepay after detailed calculation (say less than 10% withholding tax)?  I want to avoid penalty but do not spend too much time, so I do not mind if I have overly prepaid.

2. I have purchased TurboTax software every year.  Does TurboTax have any tool for this (e.g. I input my stock gains and TT calculates how much I shall prepay) for year 2020?

3. If I have prepaid estimated tax, do I manually input the prepaid tax amount in my tax filing for 2020 later and TT will take that into calculation automatically?

Thank you very much for the help!

[VolvoGirl]

If you have the 2019 Desktop program you can use it to prepare the estimates and print the 1040ES vouchers.  But for a one time payment I would just pay directly on the IRS website https://www.irs.gov/payments

Be sure to pick the right kind of payment and year.....2020 Estimate

To prepare estimates for next year you start with your current return, but be careful not to change anything.  For Online returns, if you can't get back into your return, Click on Add a State to let you back into your retun.

You can just type W4 in the search box at the top of your return , click on Find. Then Click on Jump To and it will take you to the estimated tax payments section. Say no to changing your W-4 and the next screen will start the estimated taxes section.

Or Go to….

Federal Taxes or Personal (Desktop H&B)

Other Tax Situations

Other Tax Forms

Form W-4 and Estimated Taxes - Click the Start or Update button

Or Here are the blank Estimates and instructions…..

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf

[SteamTrain]

expanding:

2.  The 2019 desktop software has the best tools for calculating what you might owe...if you use that every year.  You would just use ALL your 2019 values....then switch  to it's What-If worksheet (in "Forms Mode" ) to adjust your various expected 2020 income values, and increase your investment income to see what you might owe without paying the estimate...then pay in ~ that amount.  But you pay the estimates separately .... TTX has no way to  actually arrange the payment for you.

3)  Yes, you will have to separately enter your estimated payment into the 2020 software when it comes out . 

And note, that the might be an initial underpayment penalty calculated, even if you do end up with a refund.  It's not something to particularly worry about as long as you pay your estimate on time in the proper quarter, But if there is, you can use the annualized income form (form 2210AI ) in the 2020 software, to minimize it or eliminate it.