The "amount you owe" formula on 1040 line 37...

[VolvoGirl]

@Frank nKansas   You buy 3 versions?  Why?  Do you buy the separate Turbo Tax Business for Corp, Partnerships or Estate/Trusts?  You only need to buy 1 personal version.  It can do unlimited returns and efile 5 federal for free.  You can install it on 5 computers you own.  And all the Desktop programs have the same forms so you can use any version for all returns.  

[RobertB4444]

Days are off, that's the difference between TurboTax and the IRS.  TurboTax calculates it exactly using the best information available and the IRS uses the information in it's computers.  

It decides when and how much your estimates should be.  TurboTax uses the dates that you enter - which, as you pointed out, can be different than the ones that the IRS is using.  

TurboTax uses the information rolled forward from the prior year - which may have been adjusted by the IRS for any number of reasons.  

TurboTax also estimates the date of payment on the final tax as of the day that you finish the return.  Not necessarily the 15th of April.  So the only difference is just dates.

@Frank nKansas 

[Frank nKansas]

@RobertB4444  Makes sense!  Date differential.

I did look at my TT forms.  And TurboTax did calculate the $250 penalty by using form 2210, but form 2210 was not included in the efile.  It calculated the interest due from quarterly underpayments.  The estimated payments that should have been paid were far higher than the $250.  Interest rates were 7% and 8%. 

Seems I was asked when I expected to pay the amount due.  Perhaps that date could have been used when calculating the penalty.  However, I don't know that I would have filed on the date I specified anyway.

Gotta try not to let under estimated payments happen again.  🙂

[mesquitebean]

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@ fanfare wrote:

@ mesquitebean 

the words "estimated tax penalty"  on Form 1040 do not mean your penalty is being estimated.

It means you underpayed Estimated Tax after withholding.

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That's why I suggested it might be clearer to say "penalty for estimated tax."   It would even be clearer yet if the IRS just simply said "underpayment penalty" on Line 38.  

[mesquitebean]

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@fanfare wrote:

@ mesquitebean 

the words "estimated tax penalty"  on Form 1040 do not mean your penalty is being estimated.

It means you underpayed Estimated Tax after withholding.

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That's why I suggested it might be clearer to say "penalty for estimated tax".   Or even clearer yet if the IRS just said "underpayment penalty" on Line 38.