The second quarter estimated tax payment is due Monday, June 15, 2026, and covers income you earned from April 1 through May 31. The federal tax system runs on a pay-as-you-go basis, so income that isn’t subject to withholding — freelance pay, investment returns, rental income, and similar earnings — has to be paid in through quarterly installments rather than settled up in April.1Internal Revenue Service. Pay as You Go, So You Won’t Owe: A Guide to Withholding, Estimated Taxes and Ways to Avoid the Estimated Tax Penalty
June 15, 2026 falls on a Monday, so no weekend or holiday extension applies this year.2Internal Revenue Service. When Are Quarterly Estimated Tax Payments Due? When the 15th does land on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the deadline shifts to the next business day, but that’s not the case here.
The Full 2026 Quarterly Schedule
The second quarter installment covers only two months of income, not three, which is worth noticing when you calculate it. Here is the complete schedule for the 2026 tax year:3Internal Revenue Service. Form 1040-ES
- First quarter (January 1 – March 31): April 15, 2026
- Second quarter (April 1 – May 31): June 15, 2026
- Third quarter (June 1 – August 31): September 15, 2026
- Fourth quarter (September 1 – December 31): January 15, 2027
The Q1 and Q2 deadlines sit only two months apart, so plan cash flow accordingly.
Who Actually Has to Make the Payment
You owe estimated tax if both of these are true for 2026: you expect to owe at least $1,000 in federal tax after subtracting withholding and refundable credits, and you expect withholding and credits to cover less than the smaller of 90 percent of your 2026 tax or 100 percent of the tax shown on your 2025 return.4Internal Revenue Service. Estimated Tax If your withholding is already large enough, you may not need to send anything on June 15 even if your total tax will exceed $1,000.
The income types that most often create an estimated tax obligation include:
- Self-employment earnings from freelance work, contracting, or running a business
- Investment income, including interest, dividends, and capital gains
- Rental income from investment property
- Prizes, awards, and gambling winnings that come without withholding
How Close You Have to Be: Safe Harbor Thresholds
You can avoid the underpayment penalty by hitting one of the IRS safe harbors. Pay in at least 90 percent of your 2026 tax, or at least 100 percent of the tax shown on your 2025 return, whichever is smaller.5Internal Revenue Service. Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals Penalty You are also in the clear if your final balance due is under $1,000.
Higher-income taxpayers face a stiffer version of the prior-year rule. If your 2025 adjusted gross income was more than $150,000 ($75,000 if married filing separately), the prior-year safe harbor rises to 110 percent of last year’s tax.5Internal Revenue Service. Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals Penalty
Calculating Your Q2 Payment
The Estimated Tax Worksheet inside Form 1040-ES walks through the math: project 2026 income, subtract expected deductions and credits, figure the tax, and divide into four installments.6Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals You’ll want your income records from all sources, an estimate of the credits you plan to claim, and the amount of wage or pension withholding you expect for the year.
If you’re self-employed, factor in self-employment tax alongside income tax. The combined rate is 15.3 percent — 12.4 percent for Social Security plus 2.9 percent for Medicare — and the Social Security portion only applies to the first $184,500 of net self-employment earnings in 2026.7Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base Half of your self-employment tax is deductible when you compute adjusted gross income, and the worksheet builds that in.
When your income holds fairly steady from year to year, the quickest shortcut is to take last year’s total tax, divide by four, and pay that on each due date. If income has shifted meaningfully, work the projection instead. Precision isn’t the goal — the safe harbor gives you a cushion.
If your income is heavily concentrated in certain months (a seasonal business, a late-year capital gain), the annualized income installment method on Schedule AI of Form 2210 lets you match each installment to when the income actually arrived, which can shrink or eliminate a penalty on an earlier low-income quarter.8Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2210 You complete Schedule AI after year-end, and if you use it for one quarter you must use it for all four.
How to Pay
IRS Direct Pay
Direct Pay moves funds straight from a checking or savings account at no cost. You verify identity using data from a prior return, choose “Estimated Tax” as the payment type, and get a confirmation number.9Internal Revenue Service. Direct Pay with Bank Account The IRS points individuals here first.
EFTPS (with a 2026 change)
EFTPS keeps a history of every tax payment and lets you schedule payments ahead. Starting in 2026, though, individuals can no longer create new EFTPS enrollments; the IRS is routing new individual users to Direct Pay or an IRS Online Account.10EFTPS. Welcome to EFTPS Online Existing individual accounts still work, and businesses still enroll here. New business enrollments require IRS validation and a mailed PIN that takes five to seven business days, so don’t leave it until the day before a deadline.
Card or Digital Wallet
IRS-authorized processors accept credit cards, debit cards, and digital wallets. Debit card processing fees currently run $2.10 to $2.15 flat per transaction; credit card fees run 1.75 to 1.85 percent of the payment, with a $2.50 minimum.11Internal Revenue Service. Pay Your Taxes by Debit or Credit Card or Digital Wallet On a $5,000 payment, a 1.85 percent credit card fee runs $92.50, so the method only makes sense when card rewards clearly beat the fee.
Check by Mail
You can still mail a check or money order with the Form 1040-ES voucher for your region.3Internal Revenue Service. Form 1040-ES The postmark date counts as the payment date, so a June 15 postmark is timely even if the check arrives later. Certified mail gives you proof of the mailing date if a question comes up.
What Happens If You Miss June 15
Miss the deadline or pay less than the installment requires, and the IRS charges an underpayment penalty. It functions as an interest charge: the quarterly underpayment rate is applied to the shortfall for the days it remained unpaid.5Internal Revenue Service. Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals Penalty The charge builds daily until you pay or until your return’s due date.
For the second quarter of 2026, the individual underpayment interest rate is 6 percent per year, compounded daily.12Internal Revenue Service. Internal Revenue Bulletin: 2026-08 That’s down from 7 percent in Q1 2026. The rate resets each quarter based on the federal short-term rate.13Internal Revenue Service. Interest
Each quarter is scored on its own. Overpaying in Q3 does not retroactively cure a Q2 shortfall; you still owe the charge for the days Q2 was short. The fastest way to cap the total is to pay the missed amount as soon as you can.
Penalty Waivers
The IRS will waive part or all of the underpayment penalty in specific situations. You may qualify if you retired after age 62 or became disabled during the tax year or the year before, and the underpayment was due to reasonable cause rather than neglect. A waiver is also available when the underpayment resulted from a casualty, disaster, or unusual circumstance that would make the penalty unfair.14Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2210 (2025) Attach the supporting documentation to Form 2210 when you file.
In federally declared disaster areas, the IRS identifies affected taxpayers automatically and applies deadline extensions and penalty relief without a Form 2210 request. The current list of postponements by state and county lives on the IRS disaster relief page.15Internal Revenue Service. Tax Relief in Disaster Situations
Farmers and Fishermen: June 15 Doesn’t Apply
If at least two-thirds of your gross income comes from farming or fishing, you’re on a different schedule entirely. You make a single estimated payment by January 15 of the following year, or you can skip estimated tax altogether by filing your return and paying in full by March 1.16Internal Revenue Service. Farmers and Fishermen The underpayment threshold is also lower, at 66⅔ percent of current-year tax rather than 90 percent. The June 15 deadline is not your deadline.
Don’t Forget State Estimated Taxes
Federal payments are only half the picture in most places. Most states with an income tax require quarterly estimated payments on a similar schedule, though the trigger threshold varies — some states start the obligation at expected tax owed of around $300, others closer to $1,000. Nine states have no personal income tax at all: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.
State due dates often line up with the federal ones, but not always, and safe harbor percentages can differ. Check the tax agency in your state for the specific rules. A missed state payment carries its own penalty, separate from anything the IRS charges.