Third quarter estimated taxes are due 9/15. If we set up for you to pay quarterly estimates, you can find out the amounts we set up for you to pay in your Tax Caddy. Please call our office at 781-938-0045 if you need help accessing Tax Caddy.
For anyone paying estimated taxes, we now recommend that you make those payments online. Doing so is much safer than sending the IRS a check, and you receive instant confirmation that the payment has been processed. Plus, there is a new scam where people steal checks from a mailbox, “wash” the check with specific chemicals to allow them to change just the payee and the amount while keeping the signature intact, and then deposit that fraudulent check into their own bank account to steal the funds. Learn more about check washing at: https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-is-check-washing/.
To make the payment online if you haven’t yet set up an account with the IRS, simply:
- Go to irs.gov
- Click on Make a Payment (https://www.irs.gov/payments)
- Click on Pay Now with Direct Debit (https://www.irs.gov/payments/direct-pay)
- Click on Make a Payment (https://directpay.irs.gov/directpay/payment?execution=e1s1)
- Select the following:
- Reason for Payment: Estimated Tax
- Apply Payment To: 1040ES
- Tax Period for Payment: 2024
Answer the rest of the questions and you should be all set to make the payment. Massachusetts and most other states allow you to pay any state estimates due using their Tax Department website.
If you are a practice owner and run your practice as an S-Corp or Partnership, you can pay the Mass taxes due on the profit as a deductible expense to the practice known as the Entity Level Tax (ELT). More information about the ELT can be found at: https://schwartzaccountants.com/2022/05/elt-entity-level-tax-update/. The third quarter ELT payment is also due on 9/15. Please look carefully at the instructions sent as part of your practice’s 2023 tax return to see if an ELT payment has been set up for direct debit out of your business bank account.
Lastly, please note that a change to quarterly estimated tax payment due dates may be on the horizon. Under the current tax system, quarterly estimated tax payment due dates fall on 4/15, 6/15, 9/15, and 1/15; which don’t quite match up with the actual quarter end dates throughout the year. Proposed legislation recently introduced as part of a bill in Congress seeks to establish more uniformity for the periodic payment dates – changing each quarterly estimated tax payment due date to the 15th date after the end of a calendar quarter: 4/15, 7/15, 10/15, 1/15. Stay tuned.