Guides / Quarterly Taxes

By NorseHorse. Updated October 16, 2026. General information, not tax advice; confirm your situation with a tax professional.

If you expect to owe at least $1,000 in federal tax for 2026 after withholding and refundable credits, you generally have to pay estimated tax during the year. For 2026 the due dates are April 15, June 15 and September 15, 2026, and January 15, 2027. If you also have a W-2 job, you can raise your withholding instead.

Who has to pay

Estimated tax is how you pay tax on income that isn't subject to withholding. That's most self-employment income: rideshare and delivery pay, booth-rent salon income, and event bartending paid on a 1099. Your payments cover both income tax and self-employment tax.

Under the 2026 Form 1040-ES, you generally must pay if both of these are true:

• You expect to owe at least $1,000 for 2026 after subtracting withholding and refundable credits.
• Your withholding and refundable credits will be less than the smaller of 90 percent of your 2026 tax or 100 percent of the tax on your 2025 return.

One exception: if you were a U.S. citizen or resident alien for all of 2025 and had no tax liability for 2025, you don't have to pay estimated tax for 2026.

If you're a W-2 server or bartender and you report your tips to your employer, your employer withholds tax based on those reports, so you usually don't need quarterly payments for that job.

The 2026 due dates

You don't have to make the January 15, 2027 payment if you file your 2026 return by February 1, 2027 and pay the entire balance due with it. If a due date falls on a weekend or legal holiday, a payment on the next business day is on time.

The first three 2026 dates have passed. If you skipped them, pay now rather than waiting for January: the penalty is figured on the number of days each installment stays unpaid, so every week you wait adds to it.

How much to pay: the safe harbor

You avoid the underpayment penalty if your withholding plus on-time estimated payments cover the smaller of:

• 90 percent of your 2026 tax, or
• 100 percent of your 2025 tax.

If your 2025 adjusted gross income was more than $150,000 ($75,000 if your 2026 filing status is married filing separately), use 110 percent instead of 100 percent.

The prior-year route is the safer one when your income bounces around, because you already know the number. The catch: you still owe whatever tax is left in April. The safe harbor stops the penalty, not the bill.

If your income is uneven, such as a slow winter and a busy summer, the annualized income installment method on Form 2210 may let you pay less in the slow periods.

How to pay

• IRS Direct Pay: free transfers from your checking or savings account at IRS.gov/Payments.
• EFTPS: the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, online or by phone from your bank account.
• Your IRS Online Account at IRS.gov/Account: you can make estimated payments there and see your payment history.
• Debit card, credit card or digital wallet: at IRS.gov/Payments; the card service providers charge a fee.
• Check or money order with the Form 1040-ES payment voucher.

The penalty: Form 2210 basics

If you don't pay enough during the year, the IRS charges an underpayment penalty. The details:

• It's figured separately for each due date. You can owe a penalty for an early installment even if you paid enough later.
• You can be charged a penalty even if you're due a refund when you file.
• The rate follows the IRS underpayment interest rate. For individuals it's 7 percent a year, compounded daily, for the fourth quarter of 2026.
• You usually don't need to file Form 2210. Unless a box in its Part II applies to you (such as a waiver request or the annualized method), the IRS will figure any penalty and send you a bill.
• The IRS may waive it for a casualty, disaster or other unusual circumstance, or if you retired after reaching age 62 or became disabled during the year or the year before and the underpayment was due to reasonable cause, not willful neglect.

W-2 job plus a side gig: use your W-4

If you wait tables on a W-2 and drive or freelance on the side, you can skip quarterly payments by having more tax withheld from your paycheck. File a new Form W-4 with your employer and put the extra amount per pay period in Step 4(c), "Extra withholding." Don't list self-employment income in Step 4(a); the form says not to. The IRS Tax Withholding Estimator at www.irs.gov/W4App can work out the amount, including self-employment tax.

Withholding has one big advantage: for the penalty, it's treated as paid in equal parts on each due date unless you choose otherwise. So raising your withholding in October can still cover a shortfall from April, which a late estimated payment can't.

A worked example

You deliver full time in 2026. Your 2025 return showed $4,800 of total tax, and your 2025 AGI was well under $150,000. You expect your 2026 tax to be $6,400.

• 90 percent of 2026 tax: $5,760.
• 100 percent of 2025 tax: $4,800.
• Required: the smaller, $4,800, or $1,200 per payment.

Pay $1,200 on each of the four dates and you owe no penalty. You still owe the other $1,600 when you file. Setting aside a share of every shift's earnings keeps that from being a surprise, and Cashout logs each shift's tips, hours and mileage so you can see the number building. The quarterly tax calculator runs this for your own income.

Common questions

Can I just pay everything in January?

You can, but you'll likely owe a penalty for the April, June and September installments, because each due date is figured separately.

Do my tips count toward estimated tax?

Tips paid to you as a contractor are business income, so yes. Tips you report to an employer are handled through withholding on your paycheck. The tips deduction can lower your income tax, but not your self-employment tax, so plan for that part in full.

I had a slow quarter. Do I still pay the same amount?

Under the regular method, yes. If your income was truly uneven, the annualized income installment method on Form 2210 can lower the required payments for the slow periods.

I missed the September payment. What now?

Pay what you owe for it as soon as you can. The penalty for that installment is figured on the number of days it stays unpaid, so the sooner the money arrives, the smaller it is.

Track it all with Cashout. Shifts, tips, unpaid breaks, taxes, and mileage, logged in seconds. iPhone · Android