# Estimating prepayment etc



## cuerna1 (Mar 7, 2015)

Hi,

Just about done with this years taxes - short form and Turbo Tax wants to print out 28 pages ! 

1) For next year we really have no idea what earnings we will have. Am I correct that if we take this year's tax figure, multiply by 110% and then divide by 4 we will avoid any penalties ?

2) I like to mail the paperwork to the IRS. I would prefer to send it registered (Mexican) post, so we get a signature/tracking. Do you think I can do that using the "Internal Revenue Service Center" address Turbo Tax supplies.

Thank you.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

There's a "safe harbor" rule you can use:



> Generally, most taxpayers will avoid this penalty if they owe less than $1,000 in tax after subtracting their withholdings and credits, or if they paid at least 90% of the tax for the current year, or 100% of the tax shown on the return for the prior year, whichever is smaller.


More on estimated taxes here: Estimated Taxes
Cheers,
Bev


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

So 101% divided by 4 should do nicely as an estimated tax amount.

That word "generally" excludes large windfalls. For example, if you sell a bunch of shares of stock and have a nice capital gain, pay some more estimated tax in the installment immediately following the sale.


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