How to File Quarterly Taxes

However, let’s say Hector promotes that employee, giving them a $5,000 raise, making their salary $45,000. The first $40,125 would be taxed at 22%, while the additional $4,875 would be taxed at 24%. So, if you discover you’re required to pay quarterly taxes, you must first use Schedule C of Form 1040 to determine how much you owe. However, if your net earnings equate to less than $5,000, you may be able to file a Schedule C-EZ instead. Both forms will help you determine your net earnings or loss.

You need to come up with a good estimate of the income and deductions you will report on your federal tax return. This method could be best for people whose income fluctuates substantially from year to year, as well as from quarter to quarter. It makes it possible to avoid underpayment and corresponding penalties—and how to calculate quarterly taxes a potentially high quarterly tax bill when you didn’t earn enough to pay it. This is the main reason to stay on top of your tax payments. If you don’t pay in throughout the year, you’ll likely get hit with an underpayment penalty. That’s 0.05% of your tax due for every month it stays unpaid.

How to pay quarterly taxes

If you need some help with your estimated taxes, check out Bench. We’ll get your books in order and take care of federal tax forms (you’ll just need to pay the taxes themselves!). You can also mail your estimated tax payments with IRS Form 1040-ES using a payment voucher, but the IRS highly encourages taxpayers to consider electronic methods of payment.

To help you avoid drastically overpaying in taxes, we include your estimated withholding in the final result. That’s why it’s important to input your gross W-2 wages when using the calculator. You don’t have to pay estimated tax for the current year if you meet all three of the following conditions. You may have to pay estimated tax for the current year if your tax was more than zero in the prior year. See the worksheet in Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals for more details on who must pay estimated tax.

Who should make estimated quarterly tax payments?

And, if you do accidentally pay a little extra, you’ll always get it back when you file your tax return. You can also skip estimated taxes and pay what you owe on April 15 if the taxes you owe are less than $1,000. For 2024, the self-employment tax rate on net income up to $160,200 is 15.3%. This percentage is broken down into 12.4% for Social Security tax and 2.9% for Medicare tax. Also, if your net earnings exceed $250,000 and you’re married and filing jointly, $125,000 if you’re married but filing separately or $200,000 for all other taxpayers, you must pay an extra 0.9% Medicare tax.

The Social Security tax is only applied to the first $137,700 of a self-employed worker’s net pay, which results in a maximum tax of $17,075 for 2020. Similar to federal unemployment taxes, business owners are responsible for state unemployment taxes set forth by the State Unemployment Tax Act (SUTA). However, SUTA tax rates and wage bases vary by state, so you will have to check with your state about these details and requirements. Depending on the state you live in, you may have to pay state and/or local income taxes. There are currently seven states that do not impose a state income tax, including Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.

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These dates don’t coincide with regular calendar quarters, though. Instead, they are due in January, April, June, and September. When using the withholding calculator taxpayers should consider all forms of income, including part-time work, side jobs or the sale of goods or services commonly reported on Form 1099-K. The state of Oklahoma requires you to pay taxes if you’re a resident or nonresident that receives income from an Oklahoma source. The state income tax rates range from 0% to 5%, and the sales tax rate is 4.5%.

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  • If you’re working on a big signup bonus on a new card, for example, you could pay your taxes with your card and it will count as a purchase toward the bonus.
  • And if you expect to owe more than $1,000 in taxes at the end of the year, you need to make these payments.
  • Paying your taxes quarterly can avoid the cash crunch you might face come tax time.
  • Learn how your employees’ paychecks are calculated and your wage expenses are distributed as…

Don’t forget to include self-employment tax in your calculations. You can use the Self-Employment Tax Worksheet (page 6) of Form 1040-ES Instructions to estimate your self-employment tax for the year. While this step is optional, it’s not a bad idea to log in the following day to make sure your payment is reflected properly. Keep in mind, usually only 92.35% of your net earnings are subject to self-employment tax.