With tomorrow being June 15th, we wanted to update this post from last year as a reminder to pay your quarterly tax estimates. Below are the links to simplify things and make these payments online.
For many of us who have income that is not subject to tax withholding (for example: earnings from self-employment, interest, dividends, rents, alimony, etc.) April 15th, June 15th, September 15th and January 15th represent a day of writing checks to the IRS. These are known as estimated tax payments. If you’ve ever found yourself scrambling to find your vouchers, or, the address to mail them to on the due date there is a simpler way.
Did you know you could make these payments to the IRS using their “Direct Pay” service?
For Federal payment, use this link for the IRS site:
http://www.irs.gov/Payments/Direct-Pay
If you are in MA, you can also make your estimated state tax payments through the MA site:
https://mtc.dor.state.ma.us/mtc/_/
Remember to pay your estimated taxes to avoid any underpayment penalties from the IRS come tax filing time. The rules for avoiding underpayment penalties are:
1) You’ve already paid (through estimated tax payments or withholding) the lesser of the amount you paid in taxes last year or 90% of what you owe this year. The one exception is that you must pay 110% of last year’s tax liability if your gross income was at least $150,000.
2) Your tax liability is $1,000 or less for the entire year.
3) You had no tax liability last year.
4) Your total withholding for the year (estimated payments you made) is within $1,000 of your total tax liability on the deadline.
