Estimated Tax Payment Reminder
This is just a quick reminder for everyone paying quarterly estimated taxes…
The fourth and final installment for 2007 is due this coming Tuesday, January 15th.
So… If you’re anything like me, you’ll be spending part of Saturday night or Sunday afternoon punching buttons on your calculator in order to figure out how much you have to pay to




Yeah, I’m supposed to pay quarterly, but my business didn’t actually exist and they were trying to hit me for the quarterly payments all the way back to the beginning of 2007.
Thanks for reminding me to remind them that I don’t owe anything until 1st quarter 2008…
Comment by Blaine Moore — Jan 11th 2008 @ 9:55 amSold a bunch of stock with gain on the December 31st, but luckyly, safe harbor will apply… Next year might be different though.
Curious about something for next year. I’ve never had to pay estimated tax as last time I had large capital gains I’d happened to have higher salary than in previous years hence had higher withholding than in previous year - i.e. subjct to safe harbor rule. So I don’t know much about estimated tax rule. The way I understand it you are suppose to pay every quarter in equal installments based on how high you expect your income to be at the end of the year. But what if your income spikes at the end of the year unexpectedly. E.g. you suddenly decide to sell stock in December. Would they tell you - oh you were supposed to pay taxes throughout the year - or it’d be OK to just send a check by January 15th for the income received in December?
Comment by kitty — Jan 11th 2008 @ 10:56 amWow. The problems of being too successful. I don’t have to do this–yet. If my other projects take off, though…
Comment by Ryan S. — Jan 11th 2008 @ 1:51 pm-
Ryan
http://uncommon-cents.net/
If income is irregular, you can use the ‘annualized’ method to calculate what you owe each quarter. It’s a bit more complicated than the standard divide-by-four, but works out well for situations like the one you describe. In that case, you’d only be expected to make a payment for the fourth quarter (assuming the rest of your withholding is on-target).
Comment by Catrijn — Jan 11th 2008 @ 2:46 pmI just scheduled my payment today. I usually don’t pay them enough (on purpose) so I make an estimated payment to account for it.
Comment by SingleGuyMoney — Jan 11th 2008 @ 8:20 pm