Safe Harbor for both Federal and California state income taxes

[SupraTT1993-5]

Hello, thank you for this Q&A event. My question is how does the safe harbor work for my situation below:

1. I worked at job A and had a W-2 income and retired.

2. I started to receive retirement pension starting in mid year.

3. I started a new job B and had a W-2 income until end of year 2024.

4. I estimated my tax liability for 2024 and made estimated payments in April, June and Sept 15, 2024 for both Fed and California State income tax payments.

5. My estimated Fed and CA State tax payments from No. 4 above plus the withholdings from No. 1, 2, and 3 above added to a total of 138% of my 2023 Fed Tax liability, and 137% of my 2023 CA State tax liability (actual taxes paid for 2023 tax year).

My question is, why does TurboTax still say I am owed a penalty even though my tax withholdings for both Fed and CA State are over 110%?  Shouldn't I be covered by Safe Harbor rule?  Especially I had several scenarios where I changed jobs and I had retirement payments?

Thank you very much in advance! 

[DianeW777 · Accepted solution]

Yes, you should be covered with possibly the last quarter (due in January). You can try to use the 'annualized method' to show when the money was actually received throughout the tax year to see if the penalty is removed.

• Form 2210 Instructions

You can choose to use the annualized income/tax method in TurboTax by using the steps below. Have  your 2023 return ready just to confirm your numbers.

1. Open your  TurboTax Online or TurboTax Desktop return
2. Search (upper right) > Type underpayment penalty 
   1. TurboTax Online: Click 'See More' at the bottom of the FAQ that pops up > Click on Go to annualizing your tax
   2. TurboTax Desktop:  Click the Jump to.. link
3. Continue selecting to use the annualized method and enter the income in the slots where earned.  For wages, interest, dividends or anything earned equally through out the year divide by 12 and multiply by 3/5/8. Add the unplanned income in the slot where it occurred. 
4. Make sure you have entered your estimated taxes in the appropriate quarter in that section. TurboTax will use them to calculate any penalty.
   1. Where do I enter my estimated tax payments?

Generally, you can avoid the penalty if your total timely estimated payments and withholdings are greater than or equal to the lesser of:

• 90% of the total tax after credits for the current year, or
• 100% of the total tax after credits in the prior year
• See one exception below.

You can also avoid the penalty if the amount you owe is less than $1,000 as long as any estimated tax payments you made are timely.

Note: High-income taxpayers. If your adjusted gross income (line 11 of your 2023 Form 1040) is greater than $150,000 (or $75,000 if you're married and file a separate return from your spouse), you can avoid a penalty by paying at least 110% of your total tax from the prior year.

If you see no change TurboTax is calculating the correct amount based on your income, withholdings, estimated payments and 2023 tax

[SupraTT1993-5]

Thank you Diane for the step-by-step response and very helpful!  I was able to recalculate using the desktop version of the TurboTax 24 and received no errors and most importantly, no penalties!