Corporate Tax | Estimated Payments
Four payments a year, computed from the books that made them.
Estimates built from actual year-to-date results rather than last year plus a guess, with the safe-harbour position shown alongside so the choice between them is deliberate. Underpay and there is a penalty; overpay and you have lent money interest-free for a year. The point is to see both before the payment goes.
What the system does
Capability, input, output.
| Capability | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Current-year projection | Year-to-date results and the forecast | A projected liability that moves as the year does |
| Safe harbour position | Prior-year liability | The alternative basis, shown alongside, so the choice is made rather than defaulted |
| Quarterly schedule | The chosen basis | Each payment with its amount and period, tracked to confirmation |
| Cash impact | Scheduled payments against the cash position | What the payment does to runway, before it is committed |
| State estimates | States the entity files in | Separate schedules, since state rules and cadences differ |
| True-up | Actual results at year end | The gap between paid and owed, surfaced before the return is prepared |
| Entity split | Several filing entities | Per entity, since each files its own return |
-
Current-year projection
- Input
- Year-to-date results and the forecast
- Output
- A projected liability that moves as the year does
-
Safe harbour position
- Input
- Prior-year liability
- Output
- The alternative basis, shown alongside, so the choice is made rather than defaulted
-
Quarterly schedule
- Input
- The chosen basis
- Output
- Each payment with its amount and period, tracked to confirmation
-
Cash impact
- Input
- Scheduled payments against the cash position
- Output
- What the payment does to runway, before it is committed
-
State estimates
- Input
- States the entity files in
- Output
- Separate schedules, since state rules and cadences differ
-
True-up
- Input
- Actual results at year end
- Output
- The gap between paid and owed, surfaced before the return is prepared
-
Entity split
- Input
- Several filing entities
- Output
- Per entity, since each files its own return
Estimated Payments FAQ
What buyers ask.
Should we use the safe harbour or project the current year?
It depends on which way your year is going, which is exactly why both are shown. If profit is up sharply, the safe harbour is usually cheaper in-year. If it is down, paying on the prior year lends money you could use. Neither is universally right, and defaulting to whichever the spreadsheet did last year is how the decision gets made by accident.
How accurate is the projection?
As accurate as your books and your forecast, which is a real limit and worth stating. It is a projection, not a computed return. What it reliably does is show the direction and the magnitude early enough to act, rather than producing a surprise at year end.
Do you calculate the actual tax?
We compute from your books on the basis you or your advisor configure, and we show the workings. The return itself is prepared by your tax advisor, and we would rather hand them a clean starting position with the book-to-tax differences already identified than claim to replace them.
What about state estimates?
Tracked separately, because the cadence and the rules are not the same as federal and not the same across states. Bundling them into one number is how a state payment gets missed.
We are a pass-through. Does this apply?
The entity may not owe the tax, but the owners owe estimates on their share, and they need a number from you to compute it. The projection and the allocation are what they are waiting for, usually sooner than they get it.
See your next estimate computed from your books.
Connect your books, free. The current-year projection and the safe-harbour position compute side by side from what you have posted.