Why is it saying I owe a ton for underpayment penalties (Form 2210) when I've never not paid my taxes?

[lackeyabigail]

I'm a 1099 and W2 employee if that makes a difference. I just finished entering my income/expenses and now it's taken me to a page that says "this is your 2023 federal tax liability we transferred from last year's federal return (2023 Tax Liability for 2210 Purposes)". What is this? Do I have to pay this!? It's over $10k

[SusanY1]

Underpayment penalties are applied when the tax that you have paid-in, through estimates or withholding, don't meet certain criteria.  It sounds like you are seeing the display screen showing what your total tax was last year,  which is part of the calculation used to determine if you owe the penalty for underpayment, but it isn't the penalty itself. 

To possibly reduce or eliminate your underpayment penalty:

1. Open or continue your return.
2. Navigate to the underpayment penalty section:
   • TurboTax Online/Mobile: Go to annualizing your tax.
   • TurboTax Desktop: Select Search Topics. Search for and select annualizing your tax.
3. We'll take you through the steps to possibly reduce what you owe.

TurboTax will tell you what (if any) amount of actual underpayment penalty you owe after you complete all of the steps in your return.  You will also see this information on your Form 1040, line 38.