Seriously, the 1040-ES instructions could be reduced to one paragraph and cover 99.99% of cases. Here's a simplified explanation:
1. Find the amount on line 24 of your 2022 tax return. Add another 10% if line 11 is more than $150k. That's your prior-year maximum.
2. You can guess what your tax liability is for 2023, then take 90% of this. If you don't like to guess, then just use the prior-year maximum.
Take the smaller of the two figures above. This is how much you have to pay throughout the year. If the W-2 withholding will cover this, then you're good. Otherwise, the balance is paid in estimated taxes, one-fourth of it each period.
There are some other obscure things you can do to delay paying a few bucks here and there, but that's it in a nutshell. Don't stress too much about this. If you pay too much, you get it back in your refund. If you pay too little, the penalty is $.00016 per day on every underpaid dollar.
