Pay Your 2016 Fourth Quarter Estimated Taxes Today

We get an extension this January to file our 2016 fourth quarter estimated taxes.

One of the real reasons I came back from Hawaii to Sacramento last week was to be here in time to pay my 4th quarter estimated taxes for 2016. I do not like using a public WiFi to access sensitive personal data like this from a hotel in Maui, even using a VPN. I figure why take the risk? Hackers are everywhere, but especially prone to places where people are relaxed, on vacation, having fun. Although, honestly, I sorta doubt most people would be trying to pay their taxes online while they are on vacation, but you never know.

Yeah, it might just dawn on them, oops, I need to contact the IRS and the California Franchise Tax Board. There are those last-minute people who forget about these things. Which is why I am reminding everyone that us self-employed people, why, we get extra time this year to pay our 2016 fourth quarter estimated taxes. We had the 15th of January fall on a Sunday, and the 16th is a holiday, so we get an extension to January 17th.

One thing I noticed is I under-estimated my income this year. I don’t want to pay a penalty or interest. One easy way to get around that when you’re at my income level is to figure 10% of your state income tax on the overage and pay it online. You can figure 30% on the overage on your federal tax. But I am not an accountant, and my way of figuring things might be different for your tax bracket, so ask your accountant for advice.

It’s a way to catch up if you’ve under-estimated. Figuring out estimated taxes is difficult when you’re a Sacramento Realtor whose income fluctuates from year to year. I thought 2016 would be rougher than it was, since January of 2016 started out so slowly. But it actually went wild from Spring to Fall. Then, instead of picking up steam around Labor Day, the election threw everything into a tizzy until December, when the market finally exploded again.

I guess there are more things to complain about than having to pay more for 2016 fourth quarter estimated taxes. I’d probably be more upset if I overpaid, but that’s never happened yet. Darn!

Click here to pay your California 2016 fourth quarter estimated taxes to the Franchise Tax Board.

Click here to pay your Federal 2016 fourth quarter estimated taxes to the United States Treasury.