If your LLC’s profits pass through to your personal return, you generally owe federal tax in four installments across the year rather than a single April payment. LLC estimated tax payments are due April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15 of the following year, and you’re required to make them if you expect to owe at least $1,000 in federal tax after withholding and refundable credits.1Internal Revenue Service. Estimated Tax for Individuals Because no employer is withholding income tax or self-employment tax from your share of the profits, the IRS expects you to pay as you go.
Who Has to Make Quarterly Payments
A single-member LLC is a disregarded entity for federal tax, and a multi-member LLC defaults to partnership treatment. Either way, the business income lands on your personal return as self-employment income, and you owe income tax plus self-employment tax on it with nothing withheld at the source.
The $1,000 trigger is only half the test. You also need to expect that your withholding and refundable credits will cover less than the smaller of two amounts:
- 90% of your current-year tax, or
- 100% of the total tax on last year’s return, provided that return covered a full 12 months.
If your adjusted gross income on the prior return topped $150,000 (or $75,000 if married filing separately), that 100% safe harbor rises to 110%.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6654 – Failure by Individual to Pay Estimated Income Tax The 110% figure is worth memorizing. It lets you base an entire year of payments on last year’s numbers even when this year’s income is climbing, which is a common pattern for growing LLCs.
There’s also a first-year escape hatch. If you had no tax liability at all in the preceding year, were a U.S. citizen or resident for that whole year, and the year covered 12 full months, you don’t have to make estimated payments for the current year.3Internal Revenue Service. Estimated Taxes Once the LLC actually generates profit, the obligation picks up the following year.
What Your Payment Actually Covers
The number that surprises new LLC owners is the self-employment tax. When you work for an employer, Social Security and Medicare are split with the company. When you’re self-employed, you pay both halves. For 2026, that means 12.4% Social Security on net self-employment earnings up to $184,500,4Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base plus 2.9% Medicare on all net self-employment earnings with no ceiling. High earners also owe an additional 0.9% Medicare surtax on self-employment income above $200,000 ($250,000 if married filing jointly).
The combined 15.3% self-employment rate sits on top of your regular income tax, which is why quarterly checks can be substantially larger than people expect. One partial offset: you can deduct half of your self-employment tax when calculating adjusted gross income.5Social Security Administration. If You Are Self-Employed Build that deduction into your estimate; Form 1040-ES walks you through it.
How to Calculate Each Installment
The IRS provides Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals, with a worksheet that carries you through the arithmetic.6Internal Revenue Service. Form 1040-ES – Estimated Tax for Individuals The steps:
- Project total income for the year: your LLC’s expected net profit plus any wages, investment income, or rental income.
- Subtract adjustments and deductions, including half of self-employment tax, your standard or itemized deduction, and any qualified business income deduction you expect to claim.
- Apply the current-year tax brackets to the resulting taxable income, then add the self-employment tax figured on Schedule SE.
- Subtract any tax credits and any withholding you’ll have from W-2 wages or other sources.
- Divide the remaining balance by four. That’s each quarterly installment.
Last year’s return is usually the cleanest starting point. If revenue is roughly stable, basing payments on the 100% or 110% safe harbor is simpler than reforecasting each quarter. If income has shifted meaningfully, recalculate mid-year so you don’t face a large April bill or leave cash sitting with the IRS.
The Four Due Dates
The IRS splits the year into four uneven payment periods:7Internal Revenue Service. FAQs on Estimated Tax for Individuals – When to Pay Estimated Tax
- 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 periods aren’t neat quarters. The second window covers two months, the third covers three. When a due date falls on a weekend or federal holiday, it shifts to the next business day.
You can skip the January 15 payment if you file your annual return and pay all remaining tax by January 31. That’s useful when a strong fourth quarter has already made your final liability clear, since it avoids sending a January payment that would just get refunded weeks later.
How to Send the Payment
The IRS accepts estimated payments through several channels, all tied to your Social Security number so credit lands on your individual account.
IRS Direct Pay
The simplest option for most LLC owners. On the IRS Direct Pay portal, select “Estimated Tax” as the reason and the correct tax year, then enter your bank account details. No fee, no registration.8Internal Revenue Service. Direct Pay with Bank Account The money is pulled from checking or savings.
EFTPS
The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System requires one-time enrollment and a PIN mailed to you, but it offers scheduling up to 365 days ahead, 15 months of payment history, and easy changes or cancellations.9Internal Revenue Service. EFTPS – The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System If you’re paying for multiple tax years or entities, the tracking alone tends to make the setup worthwhile.
Card or Digital Wallet
The IRS accepts card and digital wallet payments through two authorized processors, Pay1040 and ACI Payments. The IRS itself charges nothing; the processors do. Debit card transactions run about $2.10 to $2.15 per payment. Credit card fees are percentage-based, roughly 1.75% to 1.85% of the amount paid.10Internal Revenue Service. Pay Your Taxes by Debit or Credit Card or Digital Wallet Those fees are deductible as a business expense, but they scale fast on large payments: a $10,000 quarterly payment at 1.85% costs $185 in processing fees.
Check or Money Order
You can mail a paper check or money order with the payment voucher from Form 1040-ES. Make it payable to “U.S. Treasury” and write your Social Security number, the tax year, and “Form 1040-ES” on the memo line.11Internal Revenue Service. Pay by Check or Money Order The mailing address depends on your state and is printed on the voucher. The postmark date counts, so mailing the day before a deadline works, though electronic methods give you same-day confirmation that paper does not.
If Your Income Is Uneven Across the Year
Equal quarterly payments work when income flows steadily. Many LLC owners don’t have that pattern: a consultant lands a large contract in Q3, a retailer sees a holiday spike, a freelancer’s project timing is unpredictable. Paying a quarter of your annual estimate in April after a slow Q1 ties up cash you may need.
The annualized income installment method lets you size each payment to what you’ve actually earned through the end of the period. You calculate tax as if that period’s income were annualized for the full year and pay from there. A slow first quarter means a smaller April payment. A heavy fourth quarter shifts the larger payment to January.12Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2210
The trade-off is paperwork. You complete Schedule AI of Form 2210, track income and deductions by period, and attach the form to your return. If you use the method for one payment period, you use it for all four. For genuinely seasonal businesses, the cash-flow benefit usually earns back the recordkeeping.
What Happens If You Underpay
The IRS charges interest on underpaid estimated tax at rates that reset quarterly based on the federal short-term rate. For 2026, the underpayment rate was 7% in the first quarter and 6% in the second.13Internal Revenue Service. Quarterly Interest Rates Interest compounds daily and is figured separately for each installment from its due date until it’s paid or until the return due date, whichever comes first. Even 6% on a five-figure balance adds real money.
The IRS will waive or reduce the penalty in limited situations:12Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2210
- You retired after reaching age 62 or became disabled in the current or preceding tax year, and the underpayment resulted from reasonable cause rather than neglect.
- A casualty, federally declared disaster, or other unusual circumstance makes the penalty inequitable in the IRS’s judgment.
To request a waiver, file Form 2210 with your return and attach supporting documentation: proof of retirement date and age, evidence of disability, or police and insurance reports for a casualty. Reviews are case by case, so a waiver request is not automatic.
If Your LLC Is Taxed as a Corporation
Everything above assumes the LLC is a pass-through entity, which is the default. Filing Form 8832 to elect corporate treatment changes the picture.
An LLC taxed as a C corporation pays income tax at the entity level. The corporation itself makes estimated payments when it expects to owe $500 or more, a lower threshold than the individual $1,000 trigger.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6655 – Failure by Corporation to Pay Estimated Income Tax Those payments come from the LLC through EFTPS using its employer identification number, not from members on personal returns. Members owe personal estimated tax only on salaries or distributions they receive.
An LLC taxed as an S corporation stays a pass-through, but members who work in the business must be paid a reasonable salary as W-2 wages, with income tax and FICA withheld.15Internal Revenue Service. Wage Compensation for S Corporation Officers That withholding can reduce or eliminate the need for separate estimated payments on the wage portion. Any profit distributed beyond the salary still passes through without withholding, so estimated payments cover the tax on that piece.
Don’t Forget State Estimated Tax
Federal payments are only one layer. Most states with an income tax require their own estimated payments, and the rules diverge from the federal ones. Thresholds that trigger a state requirement typically fall between $500 and $1,000 of expected state tax liability, and due dates don’t always match the federal schedule. A few states have no income tax and skip this entirely. Check your state department of revenue for specifics; this is where LLC owners in high-tax states sometimes get hit with a separate penalty they didn’t see coming.