Is it mandatory to pay estimated taxes

When I filed my 2016 taxes, I owed some federal taxes. TT recommended that I pay estimated taxes for 2017. At that time I said yet, and as a result my 2016 tax return has 4 vouchers for payment of estimated taxes, with the first installment due on 4/18/2017. I am confident that I will not owe more than $1000 in federal taxes this year. Do I still need to send in my estimated payments to IRS? What happens if I do not send estimated payments (and do not owe more than $1000 in federal taxes at the end of the year)?

posted

You do not have to pay those. It is only a convenience - which assumes that this year will look exactly like last year. As long as your withholding gets 90% of the final tax you owe or 100% of the amount owed in the preceding year, there is no penalty. Go to irs.gov and search forms for "penalty calculation" if you like: It gets this:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i2210.pdf