Quarterly Tax Estimates

By Matt Persichetti, CPA, Director of Tax & Accounting

What’s happening with estimates for the remainder of the year? Typical CPA firms abide by a “set it and forget it” policy. Not that the CPA forgets about your estimate payments, but they set your estimated payments up in April to be made on April 15th, June 15th, September 15th, and January 15th.

Tax processing software is limited in the sense that once you set those payments and dates, CPAs typically can’t change them (especially for Federal estimates!). That means that if there are any fluctuations in your income levels (first year RMDs, large wage increases, big capital gains) you’ll likely be underpaid once it comes to next April and you file your return. This can come as a shock to some, thinking that they are covered by the estimated payments that were set up for them the previous year.

An additional level to this dilemma is that the IRS is officially phasing out paper returns and paper checks effective in September. Taxpayers are no longer able to mail in paper checks along with the payment voucher that was supplied to them at return time. Taxpayers now need to either make payments via tax preparation software in April when they file their return or schedule and make estimated payments online.

The IRS provides a few different methods that make it easy for taxpayers to file and pay estimated tax payments. Everyone can make an IRS.gov and ID.me account to access their IRS profile and make payments through their portal as well as track payments/refunds and other items. Taxpayers can also make and schedule payments through the IRS’s Individual Direct Pay portal. In the Direct Pay portal, taxpayers can make payments easily by verifying personal information and setting payments for any date within a one-year time frame.

At EWS and Aerie Tax & Advisory we’re doing something different than the typical CPA’s process because we are not a typical tax return filer. We want to make sure that you’re maximizing the value of your money as much as you possibly can and owe as little in April as possible. Most people will tell you that they would like to receive a refund in April, and who wouldn’t? But my rebuttal is always, “wouldn’t you like that money sooner?”.

Our goal is for you to owe as little as possible and receive as little a refund as possible so that your money stays in your pocket in the most efficient way. We’ll keep track of your income throughout the year and consider any major life events (as mentioned above) to adjust your estimated tax payments throughout the year.

This keeps your money where it belongs – your pocket - rather than waiting an extra 4 months to receive it back (along with all the fun delays and processing time by the IRS).

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