Do any of you pay your estimated taxes using your bank’s Bill Pay?

It would be super easy, if I just go to my Wells Fargo business account and use the “Business Bill Pay” to set up 4 scheduled payments for federal and state taxes.

I’m hesitant though, because, per Turbo Tax instructions, I’d need to have my social security number on each check and after much online searching, I don’t see anyone else doing it this way.

In other words, my bank would mail the IRS and the state, four checks per year with my SS # on the checks.

Do you do it this way? Do you see a problem with this?

I opened up an IRS.GOV account and pay our estimated online directly at their site. You can schedule it so it is pulled on the correct dates.

Yes, they have my bank account info. Yes, they could grab all my money. But can't they anyway?

Thanks plenty. I was reading the IRS site and in one place it says if you mail, you need to include your voucher, in another place it says you need to include form 1040-ES, so maybe it wouldn't work. I guess I could try and use the bill pay system and see what happens.

IRS Direct Pay - www.irs.gov/payments/direct-pay

You do not have to set up an account if you don't want to.

You can set up payments in advance, so you could just set up four payments through this system scheduled for your desired dates.

I'd strongly recommend sending it in with your 1040-ES. I accidentally sent in an estimated payment for 2022 with a 1040-ES from 2021. They credited it to 2021, sent it back in the form of a refund check (because we were already squared up for that year), and then hit me with all kinds of fees and penalties for not paying my 2022 estimated taxes on time. It eventually got sorted out, but took quite a few phone calls. Not worth the potential time savings of paying automatically.

Well, thank you Robin for that story of suffering. You saved me from it :-)

Well, I'm on the IRS Direct Pay site now. Login/payment is a 5 step process.

My bill pay specifically says "not for paying government obligations" or something to that affect.

I don't trust the IRS to do anything without specific instructions. They can't even get it right with their own forms. Ask me how I know. Their phone system is set to automatically hang up after 2 hours...even if you are in the middle of a call. Happened to me twice last year.

Robin, thanks for sharing, lol. I did the same thing, more than once in 2021 and am still trying to get it straightened out.

Ok i also pay fed and state estimated and taxes due with return online but do sometjing different. I have found a method that results in getting credit card rewards and a "float". The card i use is Bank of America preferred rewards card, diamond status(requires $100k min value in a merrill lynch account to get the Diamond status reward level 2.62% cash back). The irs has 3 approved payment processors. I use paytaxusa bc they charge the lowest fee which is i think 1.85%. So i make a spread and a short float.

This is not for everybody....