To pay your federal taxes quarterly, you estimate your yearly tax on Form 1040-ES, divide it into four installments, and send each one to the IRS by its due date: April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 of the following year. Most people submit electronically through IRS Direct Pay, though card payments and mailed vouchers still work. The system applies to anyone who expects to owe $1,000 or more after withholding — typically the self-employed, landlords, investors, and retirees with untaxed income.
Who Needs to Pay Quarterly
The rule sits in 26 U.S.C. § 6654, which imposes an underpayment penalty when an individual doesn’t pay enough tax during the year.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6654 – Failure by Individual to Pay Estimated Income Tax You’re on the hook for estimated payments if your total tax for the year, minus withholding and refundable credits, will be $1,000 or more. Self-employment earnings, rental income, interest, dividends, capital gains, and alimony are the usual triggers.
You avoid the penalty by hitting one of two safe harbors: pay at least 90% of the current year’s tax, or 100% of last year’s tax, whichever is smaller.2Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 306, Penalty for Underpayment of Estimated Tax If your adjusted gross income last year was over $150,000 ($75,000 if married filing separately), the prior-year figure rises to 110%.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6654 – Failure by Individual to Pay Estimated Income Tax That 110% rule catches people whose income swings year to year.
One clean exemption: if you had no tax liability at all last year — meaning the total tax line on your prior Form 1040 was zero, or you didn’t have to file — you owe no estimated payments this year. Your prior tax year has to have been a full 12 months, and you have to have been a U.S. citizen or resident throughout.3Internal Revenue Service. Penalty Questions
Figuring Out How Much to Send
Form 1040-ES contains the worksheet the IRS wants you to use.4Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals Pull last year’s return as a starting point. Then adjust for anything you know will change this year — a new client, a property sale, a marriage, a spouse leaving a job.
The worksheet has you estimate adjusted gross income, subtract either the standard deduction or your projected itemized deductions, apply the current-year brackets from the 1040-ES rate schedules, and land on your income tax.5Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Form 1040-ES Estimated Tax for Individuals For 2026, the standard deduction is $16,100 single, $32,200 joint, and $24,150 head of household.6Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
If you’re self-employed, add self-employment tax. The IRS charges 15.3% (12.4% Social Security plus 2.9% Medicare) on 92.35% of your net self-employment earnings. Social Security caps out at the first $184,500 of earnings in 2026; the Medicare portion has no cap.7Internal Revenue Service. Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes)8Social Security Administration. What Is the Current Maximum Amount of Taxable Earnings An extra 0.9% Medicare surtax applies once total self-employment income tops $200,000 single or $250,000 joint.9Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 560, Additional Medicare Tax
Subtract any credits you expect (child tax credit, education credits, and so on). The result is your total estimated tax. Divide by four. That’s your quarterly payment.
When Payments Are Due
The IRS breaks the year into four uneven periods, each with its own deadline:
- First quarter (January 1 – March 31): April 15
- Second quarter (April 1 – May 31): June 15
- Third quarter (June 1 – August 31): September 15
- Fourth quarter (September 1 – December 31): January 15 of the following year
For the 2026 tax year, the dates are April 15, 2026; June 15, 2026; September 15, 2026; and January 15, 2027.10Internal Revenue Service. When to Pay Estimated Tax – Individuals 2 A deadline landing on a weekend or federal holiday shifts to the next business day. Watch the gap between April and June — it’s only two months, and it sneaks up.
You can skip the January 15 payment entirely if you file your return and pay everything owed by January 31.5Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Form 1040-ES Estimated Tax for Individuals Useful if your bookkeeping is already done and you’d rather close the year in one step.
How to Submit a Payment
The IRS accepts estimated payments through several channels. The right one depends on how you like to pay and whether you’re an individual or a business.
IRS Direct Pay pulls funds directly from a checking or savings account and charges no fee. No account is required, though registering for an IRS Online Account lets you save your bank info.11Internal Revenue Service. Direct Pay With Bank Account For most individuals, this is the cleanest option.
EFTPS long served taxpayers who wanted to schedule payments in advance, but the IRS is phasing it out for individuals during 2026. New individual enrollments closed in October 2025, and existing individual users are expected to move to Direct Pay or an IRS Online Account by late 2026. Business taxpayers can continue using EFTPS as before.12EFTPS. Welcome to EFTPS Online
Credit or debit card payments go through authorized third-party processors that charge fees. Credit card fees run about 1.75% to 2.50% of the amount paid; personal debit cards charge a flat fee of roughly $2.10 to $2.15 per transaction.13Internal Revenue Service. Pay Your Taxes by Debit or Credit Card or Digital Wallet A $5,000 credit card payment costs $87 to $125 in fees, so this route pays off only if your rewards beat the cost.
Check or money order by mail uses the payment vouchers in Form 1040-ES. Write your Social Security number, the tax year, and “Form 1040-ES” on the check, then mail it to the address for your state listed in the form instructions. Hold on to the voucher copy and the canceled check as proof.
Boosting Withholding as an Alternative
If you also work a regular job, you can often avoid quarterly filings altogether by having more tax withheld from your paycheck. File a new Form W-4 with your employer and enter an extra amount on Step 4(c); the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator will tell you how much.14Internal Revenue Service. FAQs on the 2020 Form W-4 Withholding gets treated as paid evenly across the year no matter when it actually came out of your paycheck, so a mid-year bump can retroactively cover earlier quarters where you were short.
If Your Income Isn’t Steady
Splitting the year into four equal payments assumes even income. Real estate agents who close deals in summer, consultants with lumpy retainer schedules, and investors who realize a large gain in December end up paying too much too early under that math.
The annualized income installment method fixes it. You recalculate each quarter’s required payment based on the income you actually earned during that period, using Schedule AI of Form 2210.15Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2210 – Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals, Estates, and Trusts One rule: if you use Schedule AI for one quarter, you have to use it for all four. No mixing methods.
What Happens If You Underpay
The underpayment penalty is really interest. The IRS charges it on the amount you should have paid, running from each installment’s due date until the day you pay or file.16Internal Revenue Service. Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals Penalty The rate is the federal short-term rate plus three percentage points, reset each quarter. For the first quarter of 2026, it’s 7%.17Internal Revenue Service. Quarterly Interest Rates
Each installment period stands on its own. Missing the April payment and doubling up in June leaves the April shortfall accruing interest for those two months. Catching up shrinks the penalty but doesn’t erase it. The IRS calculates the penalty when you file and will bill you if you don’t compute it yourself on Form 2210.
Waivers are narrow. Forgetting isn’t a valid reason. Two situations qualify:
- A casualty, disaster, or other unusual event kept you from paying on time. Check Box B on Form 2210 and attach documentation such as police reports or insurance filings.
- You retired after age 62 or became disabled during the current or prior tax year, and the underpayment stems from reasonable cause. Check Box A on Form 2210.
Taxpayers in federally declared disaster areas usually get automatic relief without filing Form 2210.15Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2210 – Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals, Estates, and Trusts
Farmers and Fishermen Follow a Different Schedule
If at least two-thirds of your gross income comes from farming or fishing, you don’t make four payments. You make one, due January 15 after the tax year ends. Or you can skip estimated payments entirely by filing your return and paying in full by March 1.18Internal Revenue Service. Farmers and Fishermen For the 2026 tax year, that’s one payment by January 15, 2027, or a return with full payment by March 1, 2027.
State Estimated Taxes
Federal payments are only part of the picture. Most states with an income tax run their own estimated payment systems, and the trigger threshold is often lower than the federal $1,000, typically somewhere between $100 and $1,000 of expected liability. Nine states — Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming — have no individual income tax and require nothing. Elsewhere, deadlines usually match the federal ones but not always. Your state’s department of revenue website has the threshold, dates, and penalty rules that apply to you.