For many taxpayers, the easiest way to submit what you owe through quarterly taxes is to pay your taxes electronically. You can submit your federal quarterly payment in a variety of ways, but for ease of use, we recommend paying online through the IRS website.
It’s important that you pay your Quarterly Estimated Tax (QTE) each and every quarter. If you skip paying QTEs, you may be subject to an underpayment penalty and interest from the IRS.
Please note: As a reminder, these are individual tax payments. Please ensure that you choose your payment category as an individual tax payment. You should pay your taxes from a personal bank account or card rather than a business account.
There are multiple ways you can make your quarterly estimated tax payment to the IRS:
IRS Account
The IRS uses ID.me, a technology provider, to provide identity verification and sign-in services. If you have an ID.me account, you can sign in without needing to verify your identity again. If you’re a new user, you’ll have to create a new ID.me account.
IRS Direct Pay
- Visit IRS Direct Pay
- Click Make a Payment.
- From the drop-down menu on Reason for Payment, select Estimated Tax.
- This selection will auto-populate the next two fields:
- Apply Payment To defaults 1040ES (for 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ)
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Tax Period for Payment defaults to the current tax year.
- Click Continue.
- A window will appear to verify your information; click Continue.
- To verify your identity, begin by selecting a previous tax year from the dropdown Tax Year for Verification. Please Note: This is not the payment year but the year you recently filed a tax return, for example, 2023.
- Complete each required field to verify your identity.
- Click the box for “I accept the Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act.” then Click Continue.
- Enter the payment amount and payment date.
- Enter your bank account information and select the account type.
- Click the box for “I would like to receive email confirmation notifications and agree to the Email Terms of Service.”
- Enter your email address and click Continue.
- A pop-up for Disclosure Authorization will appear; click I Agree.
- Review your information; under Electronic Signature, enter your information.
- Click the box for “I accept the Debit Authorization Agreement.” then Click Submit.
- A Confirmation page appears where you may Print for your records. You should have also received an email confirmation.
Other Ways to Pay
You may also pay through the IRS2Go Mobile App, which allows you to make payments, receive tax tips, and check your refund status on annual returns.
If desired, you may also pay via check or money order or with cash.
Note: If you have missed the Quarter 4 deadline for the tax estimate payment, the IRS does not provide an option to pay online once the new calendar year begins.
In addition
- Once you’ve made your payment, it is important that you upload your confirmation of payment to Heard.
- If you require a copy of a previous quarter's confirmation of payment, you may access it again by reviewing our article How do I find my quarterly tax payment receipt?
- To pay your state quarterly tax estimate, see How to pay income tax in every state as a therapist
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Lastly, a note from the IRS on tax liability and penalty fees:
"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."