Can I change the 2021 estimated tax payment that turbotax includes as a part of the tax docs? My tax situation will change next year.

[ErnieS0]

It depends on when you had your $18k tax liability. The IRS has a pay-as-you-go system to prevent taxpayers from making one lump sum payment in January when they had a tax liability building up all year, the IRS computes interest on unpaid tax for each payment period.

If you won the lottery in the last quarter and owed $18k you will have no penalty if paying in January 2023.

If you won the lottery on Jan. 1, 2022, and owed $18k tax the whole year, the IRS will compute interest on unpaid tax for the first three quarters.

One way to get around this is to increase your withholding. Withholding is credited as if paid equally the whole year unless you choose otherwise. So if you withheld $18k in the last quarter, the IRS would backdate that and treat that as four payments of $4.5k.

@JKQ888

[JKQ888]

Thank you all for the good education. I really learned a lot! Can I made multiple payments in one quarter? If my quarterly estimated payment is $5k, can I split to two $2,500 payments? As long as I pay $5k before the due date, does it matter? Thanks all for your expertise.

[HopeS · Accepted solution]

You can split your payments into two payments if this is what works best for you. You can even make payments weekly or monthly by using the IRS.GOV website or other methods including mailing Form 1040-ES.   It doesn't matter to the IRS as long as your quarterly payments are posted by the due date.

The deadlines for the tax year 2023 quarterly payments are:

1. April 17, 2023
2. June 15, 2023
3. September 15, 2023
4. January 16, 2024

Also, when making these payments online, please make sure you are selecting the correct quarter.

See the IRS link below:

Pay Online

@JKQ888 

[JKQ888]

Thank you all very much!