I have a little tax situation and would appreciate any advice. I took a severance from my corporate employer in 2016 and entered FIRE. My wife works part time and earns a very small salary on the order of $10k/yr with minimal taxes withheld. I started doing some freelance consulting work, but was not expecting to earn too much and did not file any quarterly estimated tax payments for 2017 yet. However, over the last few months business has picked up and I am now expecting to owe some taxes. I now estimate my self employment income will be as follows in 2017:
Q1: - $500
Q2: $5,000
Q3: $20,000
Q4: $40,000
I have not filed any quarterly estimated taxes yet this year. As the 3rd quarter came to an end, I started doing some research and now I am worried that I will get hit with penalties even though my business income was mostly at the end of the calendar year. I missed the 9/15 deadline for a quarterly payment (I was unpleasantly surprised that this was due before the end of the calendar year 3rd quarter). What do I need to do to now avoid/ minimize the penalties ?
Thanks !