There are quarterly 2023 estimated tax vouchers in my filing summary package. Am I expected to pay these or can I wait until April 15 2024?

[dp123lago]

I am not a professional tax person but I do know that the IRS expects you to "pay as you go" so to speak.  There is a threshold, which I don't know what it is, but if you owe more than this threshold and have not paid quarterly through the year, the IRS will charge you interest and a penalty.  They want their money as you earn it, and don't want you waiting the full year to pay.  They can hold it from you, but you can't hold it from them.  They need the money to buy votes with via government give-aways.

[PattiF]

The quarterly estimated payments are suggested payments for Tax Year 2023 based on your 2022 Tax Return. The quarterly payments are paid In April, June, and September in 2023, and the last and fourth quarterly payment is paid in January 2024. 

If you’re at risk for an underpayment penalty next year, we'll automatically calculate quarterly estimated tax payments and prepare vouchers (Form 1040-ES) for you to print. You're not required to make estimated tax payments; we're just suggesting it based on the info in your return. If you feel they're not needed for next year's taxes, you can shred them.

Please see additional information about paying the estimated payments in this TurboTax Help article.

[ee-ea]

@gbabbitt22 

See this for a crash course on estimates  https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/small-business-taxes/estimated-taxes-how-to-determine-what-to-p...

[Mike9241]

what has happened is that Turbotax has calculated that based on 2022 you will not have enough in withheld income taxes to meet either of the safe harbor tests for avoiding underpayment of estimated taxes in 2023.  if it is correct and you wait to pay until 4/15/24 you will be subject to these penalties

*************** 

There will be no federal penalties for not paying in enough taxes during the year if withholding

1) and timely estimated tax payments equal or exceed 90% of your 2023 tax or

2) and timely estimated tax payments equal or exceed 100% of your 2022 tax (110% if your 2022 adjusted gross income was more than $150K) or

3) the balance due after subtracting taxes withheld from 90% of your 2023 tax is less than $1,000 or

4) your total taxes are less than $1,000

the lower of 1 or 2 is your required annual income tax payments. 1 is difficult to know until the year end so generally option 2 is the safer option. under the simplified method 25% of the estimate taxes must be paid in each quarter by 4/18, 6/15, 9/15 and 1/15/24.  unless you can show otherwise 25% of you annual withholding is assume to occur in each  quarter. 

failing this and being subject to penalties you can use the annualized installment income method. 

this method requires knowing your income and deductions thru 3/31, then 5/31, then 8/31, and finally tear end which should be the same as the tax return. the income is annualized. taxes are computed on the annualized income and then de- annualized. your tax payments for each period must equal or exceed these amounts to avoid penalties.

if you can increase withholding to meet any exception then paying the estimates is not required. 

form 2210 page 3

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f2210.pdf   

state laws vary