Quarterly self-employed tax payments after retirement

[muffinisfat]

I am retiring at the end of 2024 and won't have earned income/wages starting in 2025. I have been paying quarterly estimated tax payments, and when I file my 2024 taxes I'm sure I'll be sent a list of 4 tax payment dates for 2025.  How do I inform the IRS that I won't need to be paying these quarterly payments in 2025?  Will I be penalized if I can't inform them, and they don't  receive quarterly payments from me?

[DoninGA · Accepted solution]

The IRS does not need to be informed that you will not be making any estimated tax payments.

[dev145]

Hello muffinisfat,

There is no form or way to inform IRS that you do not need to make estimated payments anymore. Also there is no penalty for not informing IRS about this. Please note, even if you retire, you still might have taxable income. If your only income during retirement is from Social Security, then you will not pay any taxes or might not have to file a tax return. But if you have income from investments, pensions, SS benefits, rental activities, gambling winning etc., you will be required to report all that and pay taxes if necessary. You might even have to pay estimated taxes if tax withheld were not enough. When you prepare your 2024 tax return, please go thru our estimated tax section and answer few questions. TurboTax will let you know if you need to make estimated payments and how much. 

enjoy your retirement and thanks for participating in TurboTax's Ask the Expert event today. I hope this information was helpful!