How to Pay quarterly taxes

It was hard for me to find a guide on exactly how to do this when I first started my private practice, so this is a quick and dirty guide of how to pay quarterly taxes. As always though, you should consult an accountant for tax advice.

These steps we will go through may differ from state to state, but the concepts should be the same. I am in NY, FYI.

Why am I paying quarterly taxes?

I am not exactly sure, but the state of NY says this “Examples of workers who might have to make estimated tax payments include cash earners, sole proprietors, self-employed individuals, contractors, freelance workers, temporary or seasonal workers, and per diem workers.” (Source). Since therapists in private practice are self employed, we have to pay quarterly taxes.

When do I pay quarterly taxes?

The quarters are typically broken down like this:

Quarter 1

• January

• February

• March

Quarter 2

• April

• May

• June

Quarter 3

• July

• August

• September

Quarter 4

• October

• November

• December

A payment is typically due after the quarter ends. You can find due dates on the IRS website

How do I pay quarterly taxes?

First you need to know exactly how much you have to pay and to who. I was advised by my accountant the following breakdown and so far it has worked well.

• 25% of income goes to IRS.

• 6% of income goes to NY State.

Once you have these calculations you can go online and pay the proper authorities.

Paying the IRS

This is far more confusing than it needs to be so here are the steps you need to take

1. Go to the IRS website and enroll in the EFTPS account

   1. This process is a bit cumbersome to get signed up with. They need to mail you a letter with a pin for you to finalize the process, but once you get this, it is pretty straight forward.

   2. Once you have the pin you can log on and make the quarterly payments

Paying the State

I live in NY state so the below image is from that site, but I am sure other states are fairly similar.

1) Navigate to the states tax website home page

2) Find the option for making payments

3) Find the option for making an estimated payment

4) Enroll/Log In

5) Make the estimated payment

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