Quarterly Estimated Tax Payments 2026-2027: IRS Dates, Worksheet and How to Pay

IRS Estimated Tax Payments 2026

Estimated tax payments for 2026 are due April 15, June 15 and September 15, 2026, and January 15, 2027. You generally need to pay if you expect to owe at least $1,000 after withholding and refundable credits.

To avoid a penalty, pay at least 100% of your 2025 tax (110% if your 2025 AGI was over $150,000, or $75,000 if married filing separately) or 90% of your 2026 tax, split across the four due dates. The quarterly estimated tax calculator works out each payment for you.

2026 quarterly tax payment schedule

The IRS splits the year into four payment periods of different lengths. A due date on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday moves to the next business day. All four 2026 dates fall on weekdays, so none of them moves.

You can make each payment through IRS Direct Pay, your IRS Online Account, a debit or credit card, or a check with a Form 1040-ES voucher. Confirm dates on IRS.gov before you pay.

Who needs to pay quarterly estimated taxes?

You need to make estimated payments if you expect to owe at least $1,000 for 2026 after withholding and refundable credits, and your withholding and credits will cover less than the smaller of 90% of your 2026 tax or 100% of your 2025 tax (110% if your 2025 AGI was over $150,000, or $75,000 if married filing separately). That often includes:

• Self-employed people: sole proprietors, freelancers and independent contractors
• Single-member LLC owners and general partners
• S-corp shareholders whose salary withholding does not cover the tax on their share of business income
• Landlords and investors with rental income or capital gains
• Gig workers such as rideshare, delivery and platform earners
• Retirees whose pension or Social Security withholding falls short

Income only from a W-2 job with enough withholding usually means you do not need to pay estimates. Side income with no withholding can push you over the $1,000 line.

Keeping your books current each month makes it easier to update your income estimate before each payment. Our monthly bookkeeping checklist shows the routine we recommend.

2027 Estimated Tax Payment Schedule (Projected)

The projected 2027 dates are April 15, June 15 and September 15. They fall on a Thursday, a Tuesday and a Wednesday. The Q4 payment is projected for Tuesday, January 18, 2028. The dates come from the standard IRS schedule and the rule that moves a weekend or holiday deadline to the next business day. The IRS has not yet published the 2027 Form 1040-ES. We will update this table when it does.

January 15, 2028 is a Saturday, and Monday, January 17 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Q4 2027 payment moves to Tuesday, January 18, 2028.

Want the dates on paper? Download the printable due dates chart (PDF).

How to Pay Estimated Taxes

You can pay by IRS Direct Pay, your IRS Online Account, EFTPS (existing accounts only), a debit or credit card, or a check or money order with a Form 1040-ES voucher. Online payments give you a confirmation number right away. Save it with your records.

IRS Direct Pay

Direct Pay takes money from your checking or savings account. It is free and needs no sign-in. Choose "Estimated tax" as the reason for payment. In January, Direct Pay lets you choose the current or previous year. Pick 2026 for the January 15, 2027 payment because it covers 2026 income.

Payments can be scheduled up to 365 days ahead, one at a time. Set up each quarter as its own entry. You can change or cancel a scheduled payment until two business days before the payment date.

IRS Online Account

Your IRS Online Account lets you pay from your bank account, schedule payments up to 365 days ahead, and see up to five years of payment history. Check it before you file to confirm all four estimates reached your record.

EFTPS

The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System is free. EFTPS stopped accepting new enrollments from individuals on October 17, 2025. Existing individual accounts can still schedule payments up to 365 days ahead. Schedule each payment by 8 p.m. Eastern time the day before the due date.

Debit or credit card

The IRS charges no card fee. Its approved processors do. As of October 2026, irs.gov lists two:

The IRS allows two card payments per quarter for Form 1040-ES. Compare the processor fee with your card's rewards if you pay by credit card. Count any interest if you carry a balance.

Check or money order with a Form 1040-ES voucher

Print the voucher for your due date from the 2026 Form 1040-ES PDF and mail it with your check or money order. In that PDF, voucher 4 is on page 14 and vouchers 1 to 3 are on page 15. Do not send cash.

1. Fill in the voucher. Print or type your name, address and Social Security number (or ITIN). Use separate vouchers when you and your spouse file separate returns.
2. Enter the payment amount. Write only the amount you are sending by check or money order. Do not include any 2025 overpayment credited to 2026.
3. Write the payment details. Make the check or money order payable to "United States Treasury" and write your Social Security number and "2026 Form 1040-ES" on it. On a joint voucher, use the number that will appear first on your joint return.
4. Enclose the payment. Do not staple or attach it to the voucher.
5. Mail it to your state's address. The "Where To File Your Estimated Tax Payment Voucher" table is on page 7 of the PDF. That address differs from the Form 1040 return address.

A mailed payment is on time with a postmark on or before the due date. The postmark reflects when the post office processes it, so mail it a few days early. Send a voucher only when you pay by check or money order. Online payments need no voucher.

Form 1040-V or Form 1040-ES?

Form 1040-ES is for estimated payments. Form 1040-V is for a balance due with your return. Send Form 1040-V with a check or money order for the balance due on your annual Form 1040. Send Form 1040-ES vouchers with your quarterly estimated payments during the year. Online payments need neither voucher.

Payment methods compared

Safe Harbor Rules and Underpayment Penalties

You avoid the underpayment penalty if your 2026 tax minus withholding is less than $1,000, or if your withholding plus estimated payments made by each due date meet one of these safe harbor rules.

• 90% of your 2026 tax: pay this share of the tax shown on your 2026 return.
• 100% of your 2025 tax: pay this share of the tax shown on your 2025 return. Your 2025 return must cover all 12 months.
• 110% of your 2025 tax: use this instead of 100% if your 2025 adjusted gross income was more than $150,000 ($75,000 if married filing separately).

Use 66 2/3% instead of 90% if at least two-thirds of your gross income for 2025 or 2026 comes from farming or fishing. Farmers and fishers can also pay all of their estimated tax in one payment by January 15, 2027, or file and pay in full by March 1, 2027. The 110% higher-income rule does not apply to qualifying farmers and fishers.

Which rule should you use?

Base your payments on last year's tax if your income is growing. That number is already on your 2025 return. Subtract your expected withholding, divide the rest by four and pay each amount by its due date.

The 90% rule can lower your payments when your income is shrinking. It needs a reliable estimate of this year's tax.

The annualized income installment method

You can figure each payment from your year-to-date income through March, May, August and December if your income swings through the year, such as a seasonal business or one large project. Pub 505 Worksheet 2-9 walks through it. You file Form 2210 with Schedule AI with your return. It takes more work. It can reduce or remove the penalty for quarters when you earned less.

How the penalty works

Form 2210 figures the penalty separately for each installment, based on how much you underpaid and how many days it stayed unpaid. The rate is the federal short-term rate plus 3 points and is reset every quarter.

For October through December 2026 the rate is 7% a year. Each shortfall keeps adding penalty until you pay it or until April 15, 2027, whichever comes first. Later payments go toward the earliest unpaid quarter first. Catching up sooner costs less.

Ways to avoid penalties

1. Set reminders two weeks ahead. Schedule online payments a few days early and mail checks earlier still.
2. Use the prior-year rule. Pay a quarter of last year's total tax by each due date (110% of it if your 2025 AGI was over $150,000, or $75,000 married filing separately). You avoid the penalty even if this year's tax turns out higher. You still pay any balance when you file.
3. Raise your W-2 withholding. A new Form W-4 can increase withholding if you have a day job. For penalty purposes, the IRS treats withholding as paid evenly across the four due dates unless you choose otherwise, so extra withholding late in the year still counts toward earlier quarters.
4. Send a partial payment if you cannot pay it all. The penalty is based on each quarter's shortfall, so paying part of it reduces the charge.
5. File your annual return on time even if you cannot pay in full. These penalties are separate from the estimated tax penalty. Filing late costs 5% of the unpaid tax for each month or part of a month, and paying late costs 0.5% a month, each capped at 25%. When both apply in the same month, the failure-to-file penalty is reduced by the failure-to-pay penalty.
6. Ask for a waiver when it applies. Form 2210 lets you request relief after a casualty, disaster or other unusual event, or if you retired after reaching age 62 or became disabled in 2025 or 2026 and the underpayment had a reasonable cause.

Estimated Tax Worksheet 2026

Use this worksheet to estimate your quarterly payment. Work through it at the start of the year and again whenever your income changes.

Partway through the year, subtract what you have already paid from line 13 and divide the rest by the number of payments left. This sets the remaining payments; it does not remove a penalty on an installment already missed.

Download the spreadsheet version

The Excel version does the arithmetic for you. It includes:

• Income and expense inputs
• Self-employment tax with the wage base cap built in
• A side-by-side comparison of the 90%, 100% and 110% safe harbor amounts
• The amount and due date for every quarter of 2026 and 2027
• A payment log with space for confirmation numbers

Prefer not to sign up? Download the spreadsheet here.

Print the 2026-2027 due dates chart (PDF)

You can also run the numbers online with the quarterly estimated tax calculator.

2026 federal income tax brackets (reference)

Use these ranges to estimate Line 10. Each rate applies only to the income inside its range.

State Estimated Tax Deadlines

Most states with an income tax follow the federal dates, and a few set their own. Confirm the dates on your state's tax site before each payment.

States with no income tax on wages or self-employment income

Nine states levy no individual income tax on wages or self-employment income, so state individual estimated payments on that income do not apply. Some of these states tax businesses another way, such as New Hampshire's Business Profits Tax and Washington's business and occupation (B&O) tax. The caveats column covers Tennessee's repealed Hall tax and Washington's capital gains excise tax.

States with different 2026 due dates or splits

These five states set estimated tax dates or splits that differ from the federal April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15 schedule. California keeps the federal dates and changes the split.

Estimated tax pages for the largest states

This list covers the ten largest states by population, based on the Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 estimates. Each link goes to the state tax agency page for individual estimated payments or forms, except Texas and Florida, which link to general tax agency pages because those states have no personal income tax.

• California: Franchise Tax Board estimated payments, with the 2026 split
• Texas: no personal income tax, so no individual estimated payments on wages or self-employment income
• Florida: no personal income tax
• New York: Department of Taxation and Finance estimated taxes
• Pennsylvania: personal income tax payments, including estimated payments through myPATH
• Illinois: individual forms page with the 2026 IL-1040-ES
• Ohio: 2026 estimated payment due dates
• Georgia: 2026 Form 500-ES payment voucher
• North Carolina: estimated income tax for individuals
• Michigan: estimated payments FAQ

Related Resources

• How Much to Pay in Quarterly Estimated Taxes: worked examples and the underpayment penalty: edge cases and strategies in more depth
• Quarterly Estimated Tax Calculator: your payment amount with a safe harbor comparison
• Self-Employment Tax Calculator: your SE tax breakdown
• 2026 Tax Deduction Checklist: deductions that lower your taxable income
• Monthly Bookkeeping Checklist: the routine that keeps your income estimate current