Quarterly tax payments are estimated federal tax installments you send to the IRS four times a year to cover income that isn’t subject to withholding. If you expect to owe at least $1,000 when you file, the IRS wants you paying as you earn rather than settling the whole bill in April. For 2026, the four deadlines are April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15, 2027.
Who Actually Has to Pay
Two conditions have to be true before the requirement kicks in. You expect to owe at least $1,000 in federal tax for the year after subtracting withholding and refundable credits, and you expect those withholdings and credits to come in below either 90% of your current-year tax or 100% of your prior-year tax, whichever is less.1Internal Revenue Service. Estimated Tax
This mostly catches sole proprietors, freelancers, business partners, and S corporation shareholders, since nobody is withholding tax from their checks. It also catches W-2 employees who pick up self-employment income on the side, own rental property, or realize a large capital gain, since regular paycheck withholding won’t keep pace with the extra tax.
One clean exemption: if you had zero tax liability for the full prior year and were a U.S. citizen or resident alien for all 12 months, you don’t have to make estimated payments this year no matter what you expect to owe.2Internal Revenue Service. Estimated Taxes The payments themselves cover income tax, self-employment tax, and alternative minimum tax.
The 2026 Payment Schedule
The IRS splits the year into four uneven periods, each with its own deadline:
- Income from January 1 through March 31: payment due April 15, 2026
- Income from April 1 through May 31: payment due June 15, 2026
- Income from June 1 through August 31: payment due September 15, 2026
- Income from September 1 through December 31: payment due January 15, 2027
These aren’t equal quarters. The second window is only two months, the third stretches across three.3Internal Revenue Service. Individuals 2 When a due date lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, it shifts to the next business day.4Internal Revenue Service. Publication 509 (2026), Tax Calendars All four 2026 dates fall on regular business days, so none of them move.
There’s a useful shortcut for the final installment. If you file your complete return and pay everything you owe by January 31, you can skip the January 15 payment entirely.5Internal Revenue Service. First Quarter Tax Calendar Most people can’t close their books that fast, but it’s there if you can.
The common thread for what gets paid on each installment is any income nobody is withholding tax from for you: self-employment earnings, interest, dividends, rental income, alimony, capital gains, prizes, and gambling winnings.6Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals
How to Figure Each Payment
Form 1040-ES includes a worksheet that walks you through estimating your adjusted gross income, deductions, credits, and self-employment tax for the year. The simplest starting point is last year’s return, adjusted for anything you know will change: a new client, a sold property, a shift in investments.7Internal Revenue Service. Form 1040-ES (2026) Divide the total by four for equal installments.
Equal quarters work when your income is reasonably steady. If it isn’t, the annualized income installment method lets your payments track what you actually earned in each period. That means tracking income and expenses month by month and filing Schedule AI with Form 2210, which is more bookkeeping but keeps you from overpaying early in a year that starts slow.8IRS.gov. Instructions for Form 2210 Seasonal businesses and anyone with a large one-time gain are the main users.
Your first year of self-employment is awkward because you have no prior-year return reflecting self-employment income. The prior-year safe harbor still works if you filed a return covering a full 12 months. If you didn’t file at all for the previous year, that option isn’t available, and you’ll have to estimate based on 90% of what you expect to owe.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6654 – Failure by Individual to Pay Estimated Income Tax
Safe Harbors That Keep You Penalty-Free
The IRS won’t charge an underpayment penalty if any one of these is true:
- You owe less than $1,000 after subtracting what you’ve already paid.
- You paid at least 90% of your current-year tax through withholding and estimated payments combined.
- You paid at least 100% of your prior-year total tax through the same combination.
The 100% prior-year rule rises to 110% if your adjusted gross income exceeded $150,000 the previous year, or $75,000 if married filing separately.10Internal Revenue Service. Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals Penalty This is where higher earners trip up. On $200,000 of prior-year income with $30,000 in tax, you need at least $33,000 paid in this year to be safe, no matter what your actual 2026 tax turns out to be.
One tactic worth remembering: W-2 withholding is treated as paid evenly across the year, even if it all comes out of your last few paychecks. So if you realize in November that your estimated payments have been short, bumping up withholding at your day job for the remaining weeks can retroactively cover earlier quarters.11Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 306, Penalty for Underpayment of Estimated Tax Estimated payments only count for the quarter you make them in, so this withholding trick is a powerful late-year fix.
What Happens If You Underpay or Miss One
The underpayment penalty isn’t a flat fine. It’s an interest charge on the amount you were short for each period, running from the missed due date until you pay or until the filing deadline, whichever comes first.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6654 – Failure by Individual to Pay Estimated Income Tax The rate resets quarterly and tracks the federal short-term rate plus three percentage points. For the first quarter of 2026 it’s 7% per year, compounded daily.12Internal Revenue Service. Interest Rates Remain the Same for the First Quarter of 2026
Each quarter is calculated on its own, so paying extra in September doesn’t cancel out being short in April. Miss one deadline and the charge accrues on that installment even if you pay the full year’s tax on time in April.
The IRS can waive the penalty in two situations. One is a casualty, disaster, or other unusual circumstance that makes the penalty unfair. The other is retirement after reaching age 62 or becoming disabled during the current or preceding tax year, if the underpayment was due to reasonable cause rather than neglect.11Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 306, Penalty for Underpayment of Estimated Tax Either waiver is requested by attaching Form 2210 to your return with a written explanation.8IRS.gov. Instructions for Form 2210
How to Send the Payment
IRS Direct Pay transfers money straight from a checking or savings account for free. No account to set up, though you verify your identity each time.13Internal Revenue Service. Direct Pay with Bank Account For most individuals this is the easiest option.
EFTPS, the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, takes a one-time enrollment but lets you schedule payments up to 365 days ahead and review 15 months of history.14Internal Revenue Service. EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System It fits people who want to set all four quarters at the start of the year and stop thinking about it.
Credit and debit cards work through third-party processors. Credit card fees currently run from about 1.75% to 2.95% of the payment, and debit card transactions cost a flat fee of roughly $2.10 to $2.15.15Internal Revenue Service. Pay Your Taxes by Debit or Credit Card or Digital Wallet On large payments those fees stack up fast, so this really only pays off if your card rewards outrun the cost.
You can still mail a check or money order with the voucher printed from Form 1040-ES, including your Social Security number and sent to the IRS address for your state. Mailed payments take five to seven business days to process after arrival, so build that lag in near deadlines. Electronic payments produce an instant confirmation number, which matters when you need proof you paid on time.
Situations That Follow Different Rules
If at least two-thirds of your gross income comes from farming or fishing, you can make a single payment by January 15 of the following year instead of four installments, or skip estimated payments entirely by filing your return and paying everything owed by March 1.16Internal Revenue Service. Farmers and Fishermen
When FEMA declares a federal disaster, the IRS usually postpones estimated tax deadlines for people and businesses in the covered area, and the relief is applied automatically based on your address. If you’re affected but live outside the zone, such as when your records or tax preparer are inside it, call the IRS disaster hotline at 866-562-5227.17Internal Revenue Service. IRS Announces Tax Relief for Taxpayers Impacted by Severe Storms in the State of Washington
Federal payments are only half the picture. Most states with an income tax require their own quarterly estimated payments, with their own thresholds and deadlines that don’t always track the federal schedule, and their own separate penalties for missing them. Check your state revenue department’s website for the specifics that apply to you.