The United States income tax is a pay-as-you-go tax,
which means that tax must be paid as you earn or receive your income during
the year. There are two ways to pay as you go. One is through tax withholding
and the other is through estimated tax payments. Tax Topic 355 provides
information on paying estimated tax. If you do not pay enough tax through
withholding or estimated tax payments, you may have to pay a penalty for underpayment
of estimated tax. Most taxpayers will have paid enough tax to avoid this penalty
if they have paid at least 90% of the tax shown on the return for the current
year, or 100% of the tax shown on the return for the prior year, whichever
is smaller. However, if your adjusted gross income was greater than $150,000
in 2000, or $75,000 if you are married filing a separate return, the test
is 90% of the tax shown on your 2001 tax return, or 110% of your 2000 tax,
whichever is smaller. There are also special rules for farmers and fishermen.
Additionally, the payments must usually have been in approximately four
equal amounts to avoid a penalty. However, if you made unequal payments because
your income was received unevenly during the year, you may be able to avoid
or lower the penalty by annualizing your income. Use Form 2210 (PDF), Underpayment of Estimated Tax by Individuals and Fiduciaries,
to see if annualizing would reduce or eliminate the penalty.
You will not have to pay a penalty for underpayment of 2001 estimated tax
if your tax liability minus your withholding and credits is less than $1,000.
The penalty also will not apply if you had no tax liability for 2000, you
were a U.S. citizen or resident for all of 2000, and your tax year included
all 12 months of the year. Also, the penalty may be waived if:
- The failure to make estimated payments was caused by a casualty, disaster,
or other unusual circumstance and it would be inequitable to impose the penalty,
or
- You retired (after reaching age 62) or became disabled during the tax
year a payment was due or during the preceding tax year, you had reasonable
cause for not making the payment, and the underpayment was not due to willful
neglect.
For more information, refer to Publication 505 (PDF), Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax.
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