Under federal law, taxpayers must pay taxes during the year as they earn or receive income, or they can find themselves falling victim to substantial underpayment penalties. Even worse, they may have spent the money, and when tax time comes are unable to pay their past taxes and spiral into financial distress.
To facilitate the pay-as-you-earn concept, the government has provided several means of assisting taxpayers in meeting that requirement. These include:
- Payroll withholding for employees – W-4;
- Pension withholding for retirees – W-4P;
- Voluntary withholding for Unemployment and Social Security benefits – W-4V; and
- Estimated tax payments for self-employed individuals and those with other sources of income not covered by withholding – Form 1040-ES.
Employees with primarily wage income can use the IRS online tool, the Tax Withholding Estimator, to determine if their withholding closely matches their projected tax liability or if they need to adjust their tax withholding by providing a revised Form W-4 to their employer.
Employees and those with significant income from other sources, multiple jobs, rentals, side gigs, children subject to the kiddie tax, capital gains, etc., may find it appropriate to consult with this office for a more sophisticated tax projection and estimate of needed withholding and/or estimated tax payments.
Individuals should also check their tax withholding and estimated payments when:
- Changes in tax law affect their situation.
- They experience a lifestyle or financial change like marriage, divorce, birth or adoption of a child, home purchase, retirement, or filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
- They change jobs or have a change in wage income, such as when the taxpayer or their spouse starts or stops working or starts or stops a second job.
- They have taxable income not subject to withholding, such as interest, dividends, capital gains, self-employment and gig economy income, and IRA distributions.
- Reviewing their planned deductions or eligible tax credits, including items like medical expenses, taxes, interest expenses, gifts to charity, dependent care expenses, education credits, Child Tax Credits, or Earned Income Tax Credits.
- Nonresident alien taxpayers should determine their tax withholding using the special instructions in Notice 1392, Supplemental Form W-4 Instructions for Nonresident Aliens.
Once an individual has determined they need to change their tax withholding, the individual should complete a new Form W-4 to give to their employer. Individuals with other types of income should provide the payor with either a new Form W-4P or Form W-4V, as applicable. Those making estimated payments can mail the payment along with Form 1040-ES to the address included on the form or use the IRS online payment system to make a payment electronically.
When a taxpayer fails to prepay a safe harbor (minimum) amount, they can be subject to the underpayment penalty. This nondeductible interest penalty is higher than what might be earned from a bank. The penalty is applied quarterly, so for example, making a fourth quarter estimated payment only reduces the fourth-quarter penalty. However, withholding is treated as paid ratably throughout the year, so increasing withholding at the end of the year can reduce the penalties for the earlier quarters. This can be accomplished with cooperative employers or by taking an unqualified distribution from a pension plan, which will be subject to 20% withholding, and then returning the gross amount of the distribution to the plan within the 60-day statutory rollover limit.
Federal law and most states have so-called safe harbor rules, meaning if you comply with the rules, you won’t be penalized. There are two Federal safe harbor amounts that apply when the payments are made evenly throughout the year.
- The first safe harbor is based on the tax owed in the current year. If your payments equal or exceed 90% of your current year’s tax liability, you can escape a penalty.
- The second safe harbor—and the one taxpayers rely on most often—is based on your tax in the immediately preceding tax year. If your current year’s payments equal or exceed 100% of the amount of your prior year’s tax, you can escape a penalty, regardless of the amount of tax you may owe when you file your current year’s return. If your prior year’s adjusted gross income was more than $150,000 ($75,000 if you file married separate status), then your payments for the current year must be 110% of the prior year’s tax to meet the safe harbor amount.
There is also a “de minimis amount due” of $1,000. If the amount owed is less than $1,000 the underpayment penalties do not apply.