If you own your own business or work for yourself then you are required by federal and state laws to pay estimated quarterly taxes to the government of the United States. Estimated quarterly taxes can be figured out with the help of a business attorney or an accountant. Basically, they will need you to provide how much money you have made so far (you really should be honest here), and then they will figure in Social Security tax and other tax to determine how much you must send to the Internal Revenue Service.

Quarterly taxes are due on January 15, April 15, June 15 and September 15 of each fiscal year. If they are not paid by the 15th or postmarked by the 15th then the person paying the estimated quarterly taxes can be suspect to penalties. These penalties are usually 10 percent of the entire quarterly tax amount due to the IRS. Sometimes the IRS will not penalize the person paying the taxes as long as they are paid in full by the end of the fiscal year or the next April 15th with their tax return.

Paying estimated quarterly taxes helps businesses and self employed people in the area of their wallet. Sending in a miniscule estimated payment every couple of months is easier on the wallet then sending in the tax payment all at once on April 15th each year. This way, the business owner or the self employed person will be able to put more money away for profit and not have to save thousands of dollars in a separate account when tax time rolls around.

Tags: Business, owning a business, paying quarterly taxes, running a business