If you run a business and no one is withholding federal tax from your income, you pay your business taxes quarterly by estimating what you will owe for the year, splitting that number into four installments, and sending each one to the IRS by its due date. For the 2026 tax year, the four deadlines are April 15, June 15, and September 15 of 2026, and January 15, 2027.1Internal Revenue Service. Estimated Tax This obligation covers sole proprietors, partners, S corporation shareholders, and freelancers whose income arrives without automatic withholding.2Internal Revenue Service. How Do I Know if I Have to Make Quarterly Individual Estimated Tax Payments
Do You Have to Pay Quarterly
You are required to make quarterly estimated payments if you expect to owe at least $1,000 in federal tax for the year after subtracting withholding and refundable credits, and you expect withholding and credits to fall short of the safe harbor amounts described below.3Internal Revenue Service. Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals (2026 Instructions) The rule reaches any income the IRS does not see withheld at the source: self-employment earnings, rental income, interest, dividends, and capital gains all count.
C corporations sit under a different rule. They owe estimated payments once expected tax for the year reaches $500, and they use Form 1120-W instead of the individual forms discussed here.4Internal Revenue Service. Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Corporations Penalty
Safe Harbor: How to Avoid the Penalty
You are protected from the underpayment penalty if your payments during the year add up to at least the smaller of:
- 90 percent of your current-year tax, or
- 100 percent of the tax on your prior-year return (which must cover a full 12 months).
If your prior-year adjusted gross income was more than $150,000 ($75,000 if married filing separately), the second figure rises to 110 percent.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6654 – Failure by Individual to Pay Estimated Income Tax Hitting either target keeps you penalty-free even if your final bill is larger than you thought.
Calculating What to Send Each Quarter
The IRS builds the math into Form 1040-ES. Its worksheet asks you to project the year’s return in miniature: estimate your total adjusted gross income, subtract the standard or itemized deductions you expect to claim, apply the tax rates for your filing status, and subtract any credits you expect.6Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals
Then add self-employment tax. The combined rate is 15.3 percent, made up of 12.4 percent for Social Security and 2.9 percent for Medicare.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1401 – Rate of Tax You apply those rates to 92.35 percent of your net self-employment earnings rather than the full amount, mirroring the adjustment a W-2 employee gets because an employer covers half.8Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 554, Self-Employment Tax For 2026, the 12.4 percent Social Security portion applies only to the first $184,500 of earnings.9Social Security Administration. 2026 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Fact Sheet The Medicare portion has no cap, and an extra 0.9 percent applies to self-employment income above $200,000 ($250,000 if married filing jointly). You can also deduct half of your self-employment tax when figuring adjusted gross income, which trims the income-tax side of the calculation.
Once you have a total tax figure for the year, divide by four. That is your quarterly payment. Check the projection when your income shifts and adjust the remaining installments accordingly.
The Four Deadlines
The year is split into four uneven periods, each with its own due date:
- January 1 through March 31 — payment due April 15
- April 1 through May 31 — payment due June 15
- June 1 through August 31 — payment due September 15
- September 1 through December 31 — payment due January 15 of the following year
The second period spans only two months and the third spans three, so the labels “quarter” are approximate. Even so, four equal installments keep you compliant with the safe harbor. When a due date lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, it moves to the next business day. None of the 2026 deadlines fall on those days, so the dates hold as listed.1Internal Revenue Service. Estimated Tax
If Your Income Is Uneven
Equal installments hurt when income arrives in bursts. The annualized income installment method lets you pay each quarter based on the income you actually received during that period rather than an even share of the year. You report the calculation on Schedule AI, part of Form 2210, and once you elect the method you must use it for all four quarters.10Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2210 (2025) Any reduction in an early installment gets recaptured through higher later installments, but you avoid penalties for a quarter when you genuinely earned less.
Disaster Area Extensions
When FEMA issues a federal disaster declaration for your area, the IRS typically postpones filing and payment deadlines, quarterly estimates included, and applies the relief automatically based on your address of record.11Internal Revenue Service. IRS Reminder: Disaster Victims in Twelve States Have Automatic Extensions to File and Pay Their 2024 Taxes If your records sit inside a disaster area but you live outside it, call the IRS to request the same treatment.
Ways to Send the Payment
The IRS accepts quarterly payments through several channels, and the right one depends on how your business is set up and how much you value speed versus paperwork.
IRS Direct Pay
Direct Pay is the simplest online route for individuals. Funds move straight from a checking or savings account, no registration is required, and there is no fee. Each transaction has a $10 million ceiling, and you get a confirmation number as soon as you submit.12Internal Revenue Service. Direct Pay Help
EFTPS
The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System requires advance enrollment that links your Employer Identification Number to a bank account. It is designed mainly for business taxpayers. As of October 2025, individuals can no longer open new EFTPS accounts and must use Direct Pay or an IRS Online Account instead; existing individual users will be moved off the system during 2026.13U.S. Department of the Treasury / EFTPS. Welcome to EFTPS Online
Credit or Debit Card
Authorized processors take card payments for a fee that goes to the processor, not the IRS. Personal debit cards run about $2.10 to $2.15 per transaction. Personal credit cards carry a convenience fee of 1.75 to 1.85 percent of the payment, and commercial cards run higher, around 2.89 to 2.95 percent.14Internal Revenue Service. Pay Your Taxes by Debit or Credit Card or Digital Wallet
You can send a check or money order with the payment voucher for that quarter from Form 1040-ES. The correct IRS processing address depends on your state and is listed on the form. Keep a copy of the check and voucher, and consider certified mail so you have proof of the send date.
What Happens if You Underpay
Miss a quarter or send too little, and the IRS charges an underpayment penalty. It behaves more like interest than a fine: it accrues on the shortfall from that quarter’s due date until you pay, and it is calculated separately for each quarter.15Internal Revenue Service. Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals Penalty The rate resets each quarter at the federal short-term rate plus three percentage points; for the first quarter of 2026, it is 7 percent.16Internal Revenue Service. Quarterly Interest Rates The IRS often bills you for the penalty directly, or you can calculate it yourself on Form 2210.
Two situations may qualify for a waiver: you retired after reaching 62 or became disabled during the current or prior tax year and the underpayment was due to reasonable cause, or an unusual circumstance such as a federally declared disaster caused the shortfall and enforcing the penalty would be unfair. Check the waiver box on Form 2210 and attach a short explanation with your return.17Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 2210 – Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals, Estates, and Trusts
Don’t Forget the State
Most states with an income tax run their own quarterly system on top of the federal one. Triggering thresholds usually fall between $300 and $1,000 of expected tax, underpayment interest rates generally sit between 4 and 12 percent, and while many states copy the federal due dates, some do not. Confirm the schedule, form, and threshold with your state tax agency before you set your calendar.
Save the confirmation for every payment you make. Online methods generate a confirmation number showing date and amount; for mailed checks, hold onto copies of the check, the voucher, and any certified mail receipt. Those records are what you will match against the IRS’s totals when you file your annual return.