In case you’re wondering how to pay your taxes, here are the different ways you may pay them.
Pay the IRS online IRS.gov
The most common way for people to pay the IRS nowadays is through the IRS’ website, https://www.irs.gov/payments.
If you don’t have an account, you can set one up pretty easily. They will ask you to verify who you are by answering some questions from your most recently filed tax return. Once you’ve done that you are ready to pay online.
When you pay online you need to link a bank account and tell the IRS what type of payment you are making.
Here are the 3 most common payment types:
- Extension Payment
- Balance Due Payment
- Estimated Tax Payment
1. Extension Payment
Remember a tax extension is an extension of time to file, not an extension of time to pay. Which means your tax payment are due by April 15th whether you extend or not.
When you go to the IRS payment page, the always ask you the “Reason for Payment.” If you extended you should choose “Extension”, and it will look like the screenshot below:
The IRS website should auto-fill the rest of it for you.
2. Balance Due Payment
“Balance Due” payments are for your final April 15th payment, after your tax return has been filed and not extended. Here’s how that will look:
3. Estimated Tax Payments
Estimated Tax Payments are prepayments you make during the year when your taxes are not being withheld from your paycheck regularly. And remember if you don’t make your estimated tax payments timely, you’ll get penalized by the IRS with an underpayment penalty.
Pay the IRS online EFTPS
The other way you can pay the IRS is using something called the EFTPS. This was the original way people use to pay the IRS online before the IRS started allowing people to pay using IRS.gov directly. The EFTPS is still used to pay tax for individuals, non-profits and Corporations. However, the IRS needs to mail you a PIN that you need to input every time you login. So, it’s a little bit more old-school.
Pay the IRS by Check
There are some people that still insist on paying by check. If you do, please make sure to put the following information on the check before you mail it.
- Make sure to include the payment voucher your CPA gave you
- In the memo line put the words “Form 1040”,
- Your Social Security Number
- The tax year the payment is for (e.g. “TY: 2023”)