Jtdcftul

My employment provides me with a W-2 at the end of the year, and I currently have taxes withheld from my paychecks. In the opposite of this question, Pay estimated tax using W-4 withholding instead of quarterly payments, I'd like to know if I can elect to have zero withholdings from my paycheck and instead make estimated payments with a 1040-ES.

In this case, I have a generally good idea of my exact tax liability, so I can easily make quarterly payments without trying to predict fluctuating income. I'd just like to make sure it's legal to make quarterly estimated payments if you have income that would ordinarily pay taxes through withholdings.

You can't do that.

You can't directly control the amount that is withheld from your paycheck. You can only indirectly change it, by using form W-4. When filling out form W-4, you aren't supposed to write an excessive number of allowances. The allowances have to be justified by your tax situation.

Specifically, IRS pub 505 states "You can claim only the number of allowances to which you are entitled." and "You may have to pay a penalty of $500 if [...] You have no reasonable basis for those statements or allowances at the time you prepare your Form W-4."

On your W-4 form, you don't pick an amount to withhold; you pick a number of exemptions. You arrive at the number of exemptions by filling out worksheets associated with the W-4.

You must do this based on life facts you believe to be true at the time you fill it out.

If your situation changes, you can/should/must change the number of exemptions.

Further, if you have an unforeseen turn of fortune that puts you behind in your withholding, then you must make additional payments via some method. 1040-ES is perfectly acceptable.

There is a way to specify flat dollars per check to withhold, but that is intended for when 0 exemptions is not enough withholding; say you had a 401k loan go bust and must pay income tax on all that. I suppose you could specify 99 exemptions and a fixed dollar amount to withhold, but that could blow up on you if the IRS catches you.

Honestly, I do not see the IRS caring as long as your withholding is reasonably close to your final tax bill. and you paid it evenly through the year, or at least, in proportion to when the income did occur. So if you get a windfall in December, just pre-pay the expected tax ASAP.