Estimated payments and inaccurate tax filing

Forum|Forum|10 months ago
May 15, 2025
3 replies
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We didn't pay our estimated taxes in 2024 except for the first Jan. 24 payment. Does that payment go towards 23 or 24? We are going to meet with our accountant who wrote some inaccurate numbers on our filing that we didn't catch until after the filing *(ie estimates were still counted in the filing but were not paid) which makes this upcoming year estimates inaccurate. Should we ask him to do an amended filing for us for 2024? Or should we do it informally for corrections? We got a late bill from the Feds and paid it (with a small penalty.)

LindieJAuthor

I meant to say does that Jan estimate go towards 24 or 25 taxes?

VolvoGirl

Employee

It should go to 2024 Taxes. The 4th Quarter Estimated tax payment for 2024 was due by Jan 15, 2025. How did you pay it? Did you mail a check with the 4th 1040ES slip? Or pay directly online?

LindieJAuthor

Okay it we paid an estimated payment in Jan '24 online to the Feds as a 4th quarter estimate. Sorry for any confusion on dates as I was not clear. So would that payment go towards our '23 tax bill or '24? Because our CPA had errors in his filing for '24 we are trying to figure this out in more depth before we meet. Then of course we are having a meeting about this coming up but want to go in with good information.

SteamTrain

Employee

Wait...you paid in January of 2024? (not in 2025?)

A Jan of 2024 Payment would (normally) be the last quarter payment for 2023 taxes.

If you included that as a 2024 Estimated tax payment, and the IRS disagreed with that exact amount...then the IRS records probably indicate it was a 2023 4th qtr estimated payment...and you/accountant should check to see if it was already used and applied it to 2023 taxes (properly), and again accidentally to 2024 taxes.

____________*Answers are correct to the best of my knowledge when posted, but should not be considered to be legal or official tax advice.*

LindieJAuthor

Thanks Steam Train! Linda

rjs

Employee

Are you asking about an estimated tax payment that you made in January 2024 or in January 2025? I think you meant that you made the payment in January 2024, but VolvoGirl thinks you made it in January 2025.

An estimated tax payment in January normally is the final payment for the preceding year. A payment in January 2024 would be for 2023 tax, and a payment in January 2025 would be for 2024 tax.

When you make an estimated tax payment you have to designate what year it's for. If you mailed a check with Form 1040-ES, the form has the year on it. If you made the payment online you selected the year that it was for.

If you have an IRS online account, the payment history in your online account should show which tax year each payment was for. Your accountant, with your permission, can also look up your payment history.

If you filed a tax return showing incorrect payments you should file an amended return. If it was the accountant's error, he should prepare the amended return at no charge. I don't know what you mean by "do it informally." There is no informal way to correct a tax return. The only way to correct it is to file an amended return. However, the IRS might catch the error and correct it without you having to do anything, since they have the records of your actual payments. So you might want to just wait until the IRS has processed your tax return and see what happens. Ask your accountant what he thinks you should do.

LindieJAuthor

Yes it was for the payment from Jan. of 24 so sorry for any date confusion. Okay yes that is very helpful on your reply. Yes we have an online account for Feds and State. We already got a late bill from the IRS with a small penalty and paid it for 2024 but we are concerned about the estimated payments going forward and if those are accurate. We are getting additional funds taken out this upcoming year from paychecks to hopefully reduce those estimates so shouldn't the estimated payments take this into consideration as well?

In addition we got a refund last year from State that we didn't expect and I think that was supposed to go for estimates or a carry over but when he checked prior to filing, he didn't see any refunds and then after searching we found it. So then it seems the carry over amount will be inaccurate. Please provide any feedback.