Author Topic: Can I just mail a check to the IRS for 1040 es?  (Read 3702 times)

texastumbleweed

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Can I just mail a check to the IRS for 1040 es?
« on: March 21, 2017, 07:43:09 PM »
So I have gotten refunds for years, but I just got a big check and expect to make probably 50-100k extra this year.  So I'll need to pay quarterly taxes this year. Can I just multiply by .28% and mail that to the government or do I need to do that whole form?  I use turbtax and there doesn't seem to be a way to do this without using the print offs on the irs website.

Thanks

VeggieGirl

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Re: Can I just mail a check to the IRS for 1040 es?
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2017, 11:09:29 PM »
You just need to send in the bottom part of the form for the 1st quarter and your payment. You work through the whole form to figure out the quarterly payments, it's pretty straightforward. Seems like Turbotax should be able to do this for you, I think under planning - estimated tax or something like that.

terran

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Re: Can I just mail a check to the IRS for 1040 es?
« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2017, 05:53:13 AM »
Another option: as long as you meet one of the safe harbors you won't owe any penalties and you can pay whatever is due.

Quote from: IRS
Generally, most taxpayers will avoid this penalty if they owe less than $1,000 in tax after subtracting their withholdings and credits, or if they paid at least 90% of the tax for the current year, or 100% of the tax shown on the return for the prior year, whichever is smaller.

Source: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/estimated-taxes

One thing to note, if your AGI is over $150k (I think - double check that), then the 100% of last year's tax safe harbor becomes 110%.

Of course, next year, when your income drops back down you'll probably want to rely on either the owe less than than $1000 or 90% safe harbors as the last year's tax safe harbor would require paying more during the year.

Also note that you can also increase withholdings at your regular job if you'd rather do that than pay estimated taxes.

SeattleCPA

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Re: Can I just mail a check to the IRS for 1040 es?
« Reply #3 on: March 22, 2017, 06:01:49 AM »
You probably can just mail in a check to the right address. Just write your SSN on the check and than label it "1040 ES payment".

But why not use the coupon available here:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf

All you need to do is write in your personal information and then provide the amount... and then send to right address (see pdf).

MustacheAndaHalf

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Re: Can I just mail a check to the IRS for 1040 es?
« Reply #4 on: March 22, 2017, 06:02:45 AM »
Tax Act (#3 tax software maker) had an option to setup automatic withdrawals by the IRS or state government for estimated taxes.
https://www.irs.gov/uac/pay-taxes-by-electronic-funds-withdrawal

I'd be surprised if TurboTax doesn't support it as well, but the closest I found was having it print the estimated tax forms for you.
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2780240

Roots&Wings

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Re: Can I just mail a check to the IRS for 1040 es?
« Reply #5 on: March 22, 2017, 10:37:19 AM »
You probably can just mail in a check to the right address. Just write your SSN on the check and than label it "1040 ES payment".

But why not use the coupon available here:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf

All you need to do is write in your personal information and then provide the amount... and then send to right address (see pdf).

Yep, I've done the direct mail check to IRS (mailed free by Capital One) for years for estimated taxes with memo filled out (the memo example above is missing the tax year), and haven't had an issue. YMMV.

bacchi

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Re: Can I just mail a check to the IRS for 1040 es?
« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2017, 11:47:30 PM »
Checks? What are those?

Do an ACH transfer at eftps.gov.


katsiki

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Re: Can I just mail a check to the IRS for 1040 es?
« Reply #7 on: March 26, 2017, 07:04:45 PM »
Another option is IRS's Direct Pay.  https://www.irs.gov/payments/direct-pay

I used it this year for the first time.  It seemed a little simpler (less setup) than eftps.

triangle

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Re: Can I just mail a check to the IRS for 1040 es?
« Reply #8 on: March 28, 2017, 12:30:10 AM »
I used IRS's Direct Pay for the first time as well.  Last year I mailed in checks each quarter, which was easy enough but this direct pay method is easier than envelopes.

I might look into using EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System) at some point as it appears that one can setup an account for a nearly one-click payment experience similar to online shopping. Where in comparison, I expect Direct Pay to require me to enter the same information each time the website is accessed since no personal account got created. EFTPS enrollment takes a few days and I got the impression the IRS wanted to steer individual tax payers over to Direct Pay, so I did not bother with it yet.

slowsynapse

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Re: Can I just mail a check to the IRS for 1040 es?
« Reply #9 on: April 11, 2017, 01:30:15 PM »
I used IRS's Direct Pay for the first time as well.  Last year I mailed in checks each quarter, which was easy enough but this direct pay method is easier than envelopes.

I might look into using EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System) at some point as it appears that one can setup an account for a nearly one-click payment experience similar to online shopping. Where in comparison, I expect Direct Pay to require me to enter the same information each time the website is accessed since no personal account got created. EFTPS enrollment takes a few days and I got the impression the IRS wanted to steer individual tax payers over to Direct Pay, so I did not bother with it yet.

I have had a good experience in both business and personal using the EFTPS system.  Once enrolled, making payments was pretty easy.  Two very small downsides with the system.  They may have stopped doing it, but they did force you to change your password every 60 days or so a few years back.  Also, you need to schedule your payments one business day before they are due using their system to be considered timely (a bit of a pain when using it for 941 deposits).