In the past I was employed, and made estimated tax payments only to true up my tax paid against my withholding. Now I work overseas and do not have tax withheld.
For reasons not worth going into, I have a choice of paying my first quarter estimated taxes around March 10 or April 20. What is the impact of paying a few days late?
You pay interest from the date the payment is due (4/15) to when it was paid (4/20). This could be a very small number. In some years the payment is due 4/17 but this year is not one of those.
There's a penalty for underpayment of estimated tax, a certain amount by a certain date calculated various ways, with a certain amount of amount leeway but not date leeway, which penalty you get to figure along with your next tax return, so it's nice to avoid.
It's more important to hit the dates than the amounts, ie go for March rather than too late in April, for the quarterly payment route.
You can hit it right on via
There's a penalty for underpayment of estimated tax, a certain amount by a certain date calculated various ways, with a certain amount of amount leeway but not date leeway, which penalty you get to figure along with your next tax return, so it's nice to avoid.... ============= The "penalty" is non-deductible interest between when the payment was due and when it was made.
One more thing. If you made equal estimated payments you can use the short form 2210. But if any payment was late, then you have to use the long form 2210, which is more work.
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Note: If any payment was made earlier than the due date, you may use the short method, but using it may cause you to pay a larger penalty than the regular method. If the payment was only a few days early, the difference is likely to be small.
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