How to Pay Quarterly Estimated Taxes

If you expect to owe at least $1,000 in federal tax for the year after withholding and refundable credits, the IRS expects you to pay it during the year in four installments. For the 2026 tax year those installments are due April 15, 2026, June 15, 2026, September 15, 2026, and January 15, 2027. You avoid any penalty if your payments cover the smaller of 90% of this year's tax or 100% of last year's tax (110% if last year's adjusted gross income was over $150,000).

The fastest way to pay is online through IRS Direct Pay or your IRS Online Account (EFTPS still works if you enrolled before October 2025). Step-by-step instructions for each are below, along with the math for figuring the amount. The rules come from the Form 1040-ES instructions and IRS Publication 505.

Who has to pay estimated taxes?

You need to make estimated payments if both of these are true:

1. You expect to owe $1,000 or more when you file, after subtracting withholding and refundable credits.
2. Your withholding and refundable credits will be less than the smaller of 90% of this year's tax or 100% (or 110%) of last year's tax.

That typically covers:

• Freelancers, independent contractors, and sole proprietors with Schedule C profit
• Gig workers paid through apps that don't withhold
• Landlords with net rental income
• Investors with large capital gains, dividends, or interest
• Partners and S corporation shareholders whose K-1 income isn't covered by withholding
• Retirees whose pension and IRA withholding is too low

You don't owe estimated tax for 2026 if you had no tax liability for 2025, were a U.S. citizen or resident all year, and your 2025 tax year covered 12 months.

If you also have a W-2 job, raising your withholding on Form W-4 can replace estimated payments entirely. Withholding is treated as paid evenly through the year, even if it's withheld in December, which makes it a useful catch-up tool. The tax withholding calculator shows how much extra to withhold per paycheck.

Quarterly estimated tax due dates for 2026 and 2027

The periods are uneven: the second installment covers two months and the fourth covers four. When a due date falls on a weekend or legal holiday, it moves to the next business day — that's why the last 2027 payment is due Tuesday, January 18, 2028 (January 15 is a Saturday and January 17 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day). The 2027 dates follow the standard schedule; the IRS confirms them when it releases the 2027 Form 1040-ES.

Skipping the January payment. You don't have to make the fourth 2026 installment if you file your 2026 return and pay the entire balance by February 1, 2027 (January 31 falls on a Sunday).

Farmers and fishermen. If at least two-thirds of your gross income comes from farming or fishing, you can make one payment by January 15, 2027, or skip estimates entirely by filing and paying in full by March 1, 2027. Your safe harbor is 66⅔% of the current year's tax instead of 90%.

How to figure your payment

Method 1: the prior-year safe harbor (simplest)

1. Find your total 2025 tax on Form 1040, line 24.
2. Multiply by 100%, or by 110% if your 2025 AGI (line 11) was over $150,000 ($75,000 if married filing separately).
3. Subtract the federal income tax you expect to have withheld in 2026.
4. Divide by four.

Example. Line 24 of your 2025 return shows $12,000 and your AGI was $95,000. You have no withholding. Each 2026 installment is $12,000 ÷ 4 = $3,000. If your AGI had been $160,000, each installment would be $12,000 × 110% ÷ 4 = $3,300.

This method guarantees no penalty even if you earn far more in 2026. You'll still owe the difference when you file, so set the extra aside.

Method 2: 90% of this year's tax

Use this when your income is dropping, or when you started a business this year and your prior-year tax was small. Estimate your 2026 profit and run it through the Form 1040-ES worksheet, or use the 1099 tax calculator.

Example: $60,000 of 2026 Schedule C profit, single, no other income.

Ninety percent of $12,037 is $10,833, or about $2,708 per quarter. Many people simply pay a quarter of the full estimate ($3,009) so there's nothing left to pay in April.

Method 3: annualized income installments

If your income is lumpy — a big contract closes in October, or a stock sale lands in November — equal payments overstate what you owed early in the year. The annualized income installment method on Form 2210, Schedule AI, bases each required installment on income actually earned through the end of each period (March 31, May 31, August 31, December 31). You pay less early and more later, and you attach Schedule AI to your return to prove the lower early payments were enough.

How to pay: step-by-step

Option 1: IRS Direct Pay (no account, no fee)

1. Go to IRS Direct Pay and click Make a Payment.
2. Under reason for payment, choose Estimated Tax. "Apply payment to" fills in as 1040ES. Select tax period 2026.
3. Verify your identity with information from a prior-year return: tax year, filing status, name, SSN, date of birth, and address as shown on that return.
4. Enter the amount, your bank routing and account number, and the payment date. You can schedule up to 365 days ahead, but Direct Pay holds only one scheduled payment at a time, so schedule the next installment after the previous one posts.
5. Save or print the confirmation number. Direct Pay will email confirmation if you opt in.

Direct Pay debits only checking or savings accounts. A scheduled payment can be changed or canceled up to two business days before the payment date using the confirmation number.

Option 2: EFTPS (only if you're already enrolled)

The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System used to be the go-to for frequent payers, but the IRS stopped accepting new individual enrollments on October 17, 2025 and has said individuals will be moved off EFTPS during 2026 (IRS EFTPS page). Businesses are not affected. If you already have an individual EFTPS login:

1. Log in at EFTPS.gov with your SSN, PIN, and internet password.
2. Choose Form 1040, payment type 1040-ES Estimated, and the 2026 tax period.
3. Schedule the payment by 8 p.m. Eastern at least one calendar day before the due date.
4. Record the EFT acknowledgment number.

If you're not enrolled, use Direct Pay or your Online Account instead. If you run payroll for an S corporation, the business's EFTPS enrollment for Form 941 deposits continues as before.

Option 3: your IRS Online Account

Sign in at IRS.gov/account using ID.me. Under Make a Payment, you can pay from your bank account, then see the payment in your history. The Online Account is also the best place to confirm what the IRS has actually credited for the year before you file, which avoids the common mistake of claiming a payment the IRS posted to the wrong year.

Option 4: debit or credit card

The IRS doesn't charge a fee, but the two processors listed on the IRS card payment page do. As of the page's September 2026 review:

On a $3,000 installment, a credit card costs $52.50–$55.50 in fees, which usually exceeds card rewards. Card payments are credited on the date you charge them, so they're a reasonable last-minute option.

Option 5: check or money order

Make it payable to "United States Treasury," write your SSN, "2026 Form 1040-ES," and your daytime phone on the front, and mail it with the 1040-ES payment voucher to the address listed for your state in the instructions. Mail it early enough that it's postmarked by the due date. Under Executive Order 14247 the government is moving payments away from paper checks; as of early 2026 the IRS says mailed checks and money orders are still accepted, but electronic payment is the safer long-term habit.

You can also pay cash at participating retail stores through the IRS's processors: $500 maximum per payment, a $1.50 fee, and you should start at least a week before the due date because the payment barcode arrives by email and processing takes time.

Option 6: when you e-file

If you e-file your 2025 return in spring 2026, most software lets you schedule your first 2026 estimated payment by electronic funds withdrawal at the same time. You can also apply part of a 2025 refund to your 2026 estimates; the amount applied counts as paid on April 15, 2026.

The underpayment penalty, explained

The penalty isn't a flat fee. It is computed on Form 2210 like interest: the shortfall for each installment × the IRS underpayment rate × the number of days it was late. The rate is the federal short-term rate plus 3 percentage points, reset each quarter; the IRS announces it on its quarterly interest rates page.

The rate was 7% for 2026 except the second quarter (April–June), when it was 6%; it is 7% for the quarter beginning October 1, 2026.

Example. You skip the June 15, 2026 installment of $3,000 and catch up on September 15, 2026 — 92 days late. The first 15 days fall in a 6% quarter and the remaining 77 in a 7% quarter: $3,000 × 6% × 15 ÷ 365 + $3,000 × 7% × 77 ÷ 365 = $7 + $44 = about $52. Leaving it unpaid until April 15, 2027 would roughly triple that.

The IRS can waive the penalty if the underpayment was caused by a casualty, disaster, or other unusual circumstance, or if you retired after reaching age 62 or became disabled in 2025 or 2026 and the underpayment was due to reasonable cause. Request the waiver on Form 2210.

Common mistakes

1. Forgetting self-employment tax. New freelancers often set aside only income tax. On $60,000 of profit, SE tax alone is about $8,478.
2. Paying under the wrong year. A January 2027 payment for 2026 must be marked tax period 2026. Misapplied payments are the most common reason estimates "disappear."
3. Using the wrong safe harbor percentage. If your prior-year AGI topped $150,000, 100% isn't enough — you need 110%.
4. Waiting until April to catch up. Each missed quarter accrues its own penalty; a late payment still shortens the clock.
5. Ignoring state estimates. States set their own schedules. California, for example, wants 30% of the year's estimate in April, 40% in June, nothing in September, and 30% in January.

Make it routine

Open a separate savings account, move 25–30% of every client payment into it, figure your four installments with the prior-year safe harbor in January, and set a calendar reminder two weeks before each due date to schedule that installment in Direct Pay. Then revisit in September: if business is far ahead of last year, raise the January payment so April isn't a surprise.

To estimate the total you'll owe, run your projected profit through the 1099 tax calculator or, if you have a side business alongside a job, the side hustle tax calculator. Deductions lower every installment, so check that you're claiming a home office and depreciation on equipment if they apply. If you did receive a penalty notice for something other than estimated tax — failure to file or failure to pay — the IRS penalty relief checker explains which relief programs apply.