If you didn't pay enough tax throughout the year, either through withholding or by making estimated tax payments, you may have to pay a penalty for underpayment of estimated tax.
Penalty waiver
A waiver can be filed by filling out Part II of Form 2210 and attaching the required documentation detailed in the Form 2210 instructions.
If the total of your estimated payments and withholding add up to less than 90 percent of what you owe, you may face an underpayment penalty. So you may want to avoid cutting your payments too close to the 90 percent mark to give yourself a safety net.
Examples of valid reasons for failing to file or pay on time may include: Fires, natural disasters or civil disturbances. Inability to get records. Death, serious illness or unavoidable absence of the taxpayer or immediate family. System issues that delayed a timely electronic filing or payment.
Avoid a penalty
You may avoid the Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals Penalty if: Your filed tax return shows you owe less than $1,000 or. You paid at least 90% of the tax shown on the return for the taxable year or 100% of the tax shown on the return for the prior year, whichever amount is less.
Follow the instructions in the IRS notice you received. Some penalty relief requests may be accepted over the phone. Call us at the toll-free number at the top right corner of your notice or letter. You don't need to specify First Time Abate or provide supporting documents in your request for relief.
Answer: Generally, if you determine you need to make estimated tax payments for estimated income tax and estimated self-employment tax, you can make quarterly estimated tax payments or pay all of the amount due on the first quarterly payment due date. Special rules apply to farmers and fishers.
Calculating Estimated Tax Payments – Safe Harbor Method
Another way individuals can avoid penalties is by pre-paying a "safe harbor" amount equal to 100% of the previous year's tax. The safe harbor amount for high income taxpayers is paying in 110% of the previous year's tax.
For corporations who underpay, the IRS adds 2% to the short-term federal funds rate. As of the first quarter of 2024, the interest rate on underpayments is 8% for individuals and 7% for corporations. To calculate an underpayment penalty, the IRS then multiplies the amount of unpaid tax by the quarterly interest rate.
To request a waiver when you file, complete IRS Form 2210 and submit it with your tax return. With the form, attach an explanation for why you didn't pay estimated taxes in the specific time period that you're requesting a waiver for. Also attach documentation that supports your statement.
by TurboTax• 833• Updated 6 days ago
The IRS levies underpayment penalties if you don't withhold or pay enough tax on income received during each quarter. Even if you paid your tax bill in full by the April deadline or are getting a refund, you may still get an underpayment penalty.
For estimated tax purposes, the year is divided into four payment periods. Each period has a specific payment due date. If you don't pay enough tax by the due date of each of the payment periods, you may be charged a penalty even if you are due a refund when you file your income tax return.
Limit on the use of prior year's tax
Then you must base your estimated tax based on the lesser of: 90% of your tax for the current tax year. 110% of your tax for the prior tax year (including alternative minimum tax)
To avoid or at least minimize failure to pay penalties, pay your tax in full by the April tax deadline, even if you request an extension. If you owe more than you can afford to pay, pay as much as possible by the deadline, then pay the rest as soon as you can.
Taxpayers must generally pay at least 90% of their taxes due during the previous year to avoid an underpayment penalty. The fine can grow with the size of the shortfall. Taxpayers can consult IRS instructions for Form 2210 to determine whether they're required to report an underpayment and pay a penalty.
Who should make estimated quarterly tax payments? According to the IRS, you don't have to make estimated tax payments if you're a U.S. citizen or resident alien who owed no taxes for the previous full tax year. And you probably don't have to pay estimated taxes unless you have untaxed income.
The good news is the IRS will not assess a penalty for underpayment of estimated tax if certain exceptions apply. You may qualify for an exception to the penalty if you don't have a liability the prior year, you're a U.S. citizen or a resident alien the entire year, and your prior tax year covered 12 months.
Let's be clear: overpayment of taxes is in every way preferable to underpayment of taxes! The former is what the IRS expects -- and any money overpaid will be refunded eventually. The latter is against the IRS rules and will result in a penalty.
If you're not subject to an underpayment penalty — meaning the two situations above apply to your situation — you can also pay your taxes early. However, there's no additional benefit to paying your taxes early.
The first safe harbor is based on the tax you owe in the current year. If your payments equal or exceed 90% of what you owe in the current year, you can escape a penalty. 2. The second safe harbor is based on the tax you owed in the immediately preceding tax year.
Individual taxpayers may now be eligible for a one-time cancellation of a penalty for filing or paying their taxes late. FTB was granted the authority to provide taxpayers a one-time abatement of timeliness penalties.
The IRS will consider this relief when the taxpayer can show they tried to meet their obligations, but were unable to do so. Situations when this could happen include a house fire, natural disaster and a death in the immediate family.
How we calculate the penalty. We calculate the amount of the Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Corporations penalty based on the tax shown on your original return or on a more recent return that you filed on or before the due date. The tax shown on the return is your total tax minus your total refundable credits.