Do I have to pay equal amounts of estimated tax payments? and if I don't....what happens..... can turbotax calculate that?

[davsea17]

Basically wondering if I have to put the full amount each quarter. I've got property tax, and 15 other bills plus owe a bit more on taxes this year in the next few days.............so if I only send like half of my normal estimated quarterly, and then make it up during the next quarter does that work? .........and is that going to be some sort of issue.... (I use turbo tax small business) ...so does that system "know" based on the input amounts and dates what penalty I'll get etc? Thanks!

And will doing things this way cause any issues with the IRS at all?  Even if they only want $8 I'd rather avoid them having to send me extra letters of course. Thanks!

[DawnC]

You are not required to pay any estimated taxes (the IRS will not send any letters about missing or short estimate payments - it is your responsibility to keep track of your taxes).   But if you don't withhold or pay enough tax on income received during each quarter, you might get hit with an underpayment penalty.   

Underpayment penalties are assessed if you don't withhold or pay enough tax on income received during each quarter.   In fact, it's entirely possible to get hit with an underpayment penalty even though you paid your tax bill in full by the April deadline or are getting a refund.

[fanfare]

See IRS instructions for Form 2210 for what your options are and how to pay more finely tuned estimated tax based on your quarterly income.