Understanding Your Estimated Payment Schedule

Estimated payments are due four times a year, which many clients find to be three more times than necessary. They exist because the Revenue Service prefers to be paid as you earn, in the way a cat prefers to be fed as it looks hungry.

Gerald’s rule of thumb: pay 25 percent of last year’s liability each quarter, mark the dates on a calendar, and place the calendar somewhere you cannot sleep on it. The most common error we see is a calendar that has been sat upon continuously since March.

• 15 April, the first payment
• 15 June, the second payment
• 15 September, the third payment
• 15 January, the last one and the one you forgot