Is it the law that you must pay federal income taxes quarterly?

Answer 1

No, it's your choice whether or not to pay them quarterly. Basically the quarterly payments are for a self-employed person. Normally you would have federal withholding, social security, and medicare taxes withheld from each paycheck. That is what the quarterly payments pay for. Just to let you know though that if you don't pay estimates quarterly you will probably owe penalties and interest on top of the taxes. You can annualize your income to minimize the penalties and interest, but you need to pay the quarterly estimates by Jan 15 of the following year in order to avoid penalties, and pay what you owe, if anything by april 15.

Answer 2

Quarterly payments relate to the self-employed.

If you underpay your estimated tax you can face penalties.

Theoretically this means that you should calculate you taxes four times a year, a real pain in the butt.

However, there is a safe-harbor where if you pay at least the value of last year's taxes then there is no penalty.

So when you do your taxes take this year's taxes, divide by four, and make that as your monthly payments. Then you will be safe even if the next year is much better and you have to pay more taxes at the end.

Answer 3

Not unless you have income for the quarter that will result in your owing over $1000 in tax at the end of the year. This includes both income and also self-employment tax if applicable, so if you are self-employed and making over around $6500 net for the year, you'd probably need to file and pay quarterly.

Answer 4

If you're employed and enough federal taxes are being withheld from your paychecks to cover all of your earned income, then no.

If you're employed and not enough federal taxes are being withheld from your paychecks to cover all of your earned income, then yes.

If you're self-employed, then yes.

Answer 5

Yes, if you wait until the end of the year to pay all of your taxes and it is over $1,000 owed, you will be charged penalties.