Okay I'm a full time college student and SELF employed part time, so yes I have to pay taxes. I filed my 2009 taxes by april 15th and paid (I didnt have tax liability for the 2008 year so I didn't have to pay estimated taxes that year).
I have a learning disability and I am new to this stuff its the first time I filed taxes on my own and had just today learned about estimated taxes, I have not been making estimated tax payments b/c I thought I'm supposed to pay my 2010 taxes by april 15th 2011, what is going to happen to me? I can't contact the IRS its a sunday their closed and I'm freaking out.
I heard that if I file by january 31st 2011 and pay that I don't have to pay estimated tax is that true?
2010-08-15T08:44:05Z
I wasn't trying to evade the feds I honestly knew none of this until today.
2010-08-15T08:45:38Z
i dont want to have to search a website to find the answer please tell me what the answer is here
garyg72010-08-15T09:14:17Z
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It depends on your total tax liability for the year. If you expect to owe less than $1,000 (self-employment tax and income tax combined) then you don't have to pay estimated taxes. Other safe harbors are:
1. 90% of your current year tax liability 2. 100% of your tax liability for the previous year (How much did you owe for 2009?) If your income is more than $150,000, the percentage is 110%. 3. Your current liability less $1,000 (this is what I mentioned above.)
If your income is earned evenly through the year, you should pay 1/4 of your estimated liability with each quarterly estimated tax payment (these due dates are 4/15, 6/15, 9/15, 1/15 of next year). If your income is not earned evenly through the year, you can annualize your year-to-date income each quarter and base your payment on that.
The IRS Publication 505 goes over all of the rules. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p505.pdf It is long, but you should take a look at the flowchart on page 18.
If you file by January 15 and pay all that you owe, you won't be penalized. Or if you owe less than $1000, you won't be penalized. Or if you didn't have any tax liability last year, you won't be penalized, so sounds like you're off the hook on that basis.
Otherwise you'll be charged a penalty for not filing estimated taxes. The amount of the penalty would depend on how much you owe, but unless you owe thousands of dollars it won't be a lot.
You have a couple more quarterly deadlines for 2010 estimated taxes, in Sept and in January. You'd be wise to make payments then if you're going to owe much for the year, and make bigger estimated payments that you'd normally send quarterly to make up for the two you didn't send.
Don't be too worried, it is no big deal. At worst you may have to pay a small penalty and interest. The next quarterly payment is due in September or October (I don't do estimated tax anymore but I used to). You can download the estimated tax voucher form from the http://www.irs.gov website. Send a check with the completed voucher, make sure to write your SS# on the check. Pay as much as you can by the next due date and then pay some again on the January quarter and you will be fine.
If you file your tax return by the 31st of January and pay your tax due in full at that time there is no penalty for underpayment and yada. Something else that is important is never listen to this mysterious "they" who hands out the darndest advice and scares people for no reason. If you are self employed and so on please go to IRS.GOV and download a free Pub 17 which you can peruse to answer just about any question you come up with relating to taxes; if the answer isn't in it there will be directions to a publication where you can find your answer.
if you have an idea of what your tax liability will be for 2010, you can file 1040ES on Sept, and Jan 15, the last two vouchers if you fail to do this, when you file your return next year, you can possibly have an underpayment penalty what was your 2009 liability? pay at least that much in your next two vouchers