My tax return for california they sent me to pay four stub payments of 547.00 Do you know what is this?

[MichaelL1 · Accepted solution]

Those probably are estimated tax payments.  Estimated tax payments are paid in 4 amounts, one each quarter.

If you owed CA taxes for prior year, they take balance owed and divide by 4, and that is how they would arrive at the $547.  If you will not owe any taxes, or have taxes withheld from another source you may not need these.  If you do, however and make the payments they can prevent Estimated Tax Payment penalties. 

Estimated tax  is a method of paying  tax  on income that is not subject to withholding  tax . This can include income from self-employment, business earnings, interest, rent, dividends and other sources. The IRS requires  estimated tax  to be paid quarterly, typically in 4 equal installments. States use a similar method.