You get an overpayment credit when your tax payments exceed what you owe. You'll automatically receive a refund of the credit. However, you can ask us to apply the credit as an advance payment towards next year's taxes instead of sending it to you as a refund.
Penalty for underpayment of estimated tax
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
We'll notify you if we don't accept your explanation. If we accept it, we'll reduce any tax increase due to the change. We'll refund any tax you overpaid if you owe no other tax or have no other debts the law requires us to collect.
Individuals who are required to make estimated tax payments, and whose 2023 California adjusted gross income is more than $150,000 (or $75,000 if married/RDP filing separately) must figure estimated tax based on the lesser of 90% of their tax for 2024 or 110% of their tax for 2023 including AMT.
If you expect to owe over a certain amount, you must make estimated tax payments throughout the year. Pay on time to avoid penalties and fees and use web pay to make your payment.
An underestimation penalty is levied when a taxpayer's actual taxable income is more than the taxable estimate submitted on the second provisional tax return. Such penalty amount depends on whether the taxpayer's actual taxable income is more (or less) than R1 million.
The safest option to avoid an underpayment penalty is to aim for "100 percent of your previous year's taxes." If your previous year's adjusted gross income was more than $150,000 (or $75,000 for those who are married and filing separate returns last year), you will have to pay in 110 percent of your previous year's ...
There can be no refund of the estimated tax until the entire tax liability has been satisfied. Any amount paid as estimated tax for any taxable year shall be deemed to have been paid on the last day prescribed for filing the return (determined without regard to any extension of time for filing such return.)
You will have to pay a 30 percent penalty in addition to the overpayment amount. You may also be disqualified for future benefits for up to 23 weeks. Non-fraud: If the overpayment was not your fault, it's considered non-fraud.
If you overpay your taxes, the IRS will simply return the excess to you as a refund. Generally, it takes about three weeks for the IRS to process and issue refunds. Prefer not to receive a refund? You can choose to get ahead on the following year's payments and apply the overpayment to next year's taxes.
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.
Generally speaking, it's better to overpay your taxes rather than underpay. A tax overpayment will result in a refund at the end of the year, which means your taxes are paid in full, and you receive the difference as a refund.
If you don't pay your quarterly estimated taxes by the deadline, the IRS penalizes you for underpaying your taxes, not for missing the payment. Meaning, there's no “late fee” you pay. If you owe $4,000 in taxes, and you don't pay it, you're penalized for paying $4,000 less than you owe.
Having enough tax withheld or making quarterly estimated tax payments during the year can help you avoid problems at tax time. The IRS urges you to check your options to avoid penalties for underpayment of estimated tax.
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.
In order to qualify for an IRS Tax Forgiveness Program, you first have to owe the IRS at least $10,000 in back taxes. Then you have to prove to the IRS that you don't have the means to pay back the money in a reasonable amount of time.
The IRS can provide administrative relief from a penalty under certain conditions. The most widely available administrative waiver is first-time penalty abatement (FTA).
The IRS has a limited window to collect unpaid taxes — which is generally 10 years from the date the tax debt was assessed. If the IRS cannot collect the full amount within this period, the remaining balance is forgiven. This is known as the "collection statute expiration date" (CSED).