When are estimated tax payment dates?

What are the estimated tax payment dates for 2026?

There are four dates, set by statute and printed on the 2026 Form 1040-ES.

The four dates fall on a Wednesday, Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. None of them is a weekend or a federal holiday, so no 2026 estimated tax deadline shifts. The amount you send on each date starts with self-employment tax, which no one withholds for you. The Solvent self-employment tax calculator calculates that figure on its own.

Emancipation Day, the District of Columbia holiday that sometimes moves the April filing deadline later, falls on Thursday, April 16 in 2026. That is the day after the deadline, so it doesn't move any 2026 date.

What are the estimated tax payment dates for 2027?

The estimated tax payment dates for 2027 follow the same statutory pattern, but the last one moves.³

The last date in the table shifts twice. January 15, 2028 is a Saturday, so the deadline moves to Monday the 17th. That Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so the deadline moves again, to Tuesday, January 18.

The 2027 table comes from the statute and the calendar, not from the IRS. The 2027 Form 1040-ES won't exist until around December 2026.

Which tax year does a January quarterly tax payment belong to?

A January payment belongs to the previous tax year, not the calendar year you write the check in.

The payment due January 15, 2027 is the fourth and final installment for tax year 2026, covering income earned from September 1 through December 31, 2026. The next payment, on April 15, 2027, opens tax year 2027.

Mixing up the tax years causes a problem on your return: you claim the January 15, 2027 payment on the 2026 return you file in April 2027, not on the 2027 return you file in 2028. If you put the payment on the wrong return, you'll appear underpaid for one year and overpaid for the next.

Why aren't quarterly tax payment dates evenly spaced?

The IRS splits the year into four unequal periods, not four three-month quarters.

Here is what the schedule means for your cash flow.

Q2 comes soonest. You pay Q1 on April 15, possibly along with a balance owed on last year's return. Then Q2 is due eight weeks later on June 15, covering only two months of income. That means two payments within two months, right after your April bill.

Q4 is the opposite. Income you book on September 2 isn't due until January 15, more than four months later. That's a long time to hold money you owe, so set the fourth installment aside as you earn it to avoid spending it by accident.

What happens when a quarterly tax due date falls on a weekend or holiday?

A quarterly tax due date that falls on a weekend or holiday shifts to the next business day, automatically and with no penalty.

The rule is Internal Revenue Code Section 7503: when the last day for performing any act under the tax laws falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, doing it on the next day that isn't one of those counts as on time. "Legal holiday" means a legal holiday in the District of Columbia, which is why DC-specific days like Emancipation Day can move a national deadline.

The shift can happen twice, as the January 2028 date shows. If a Saturday deadline moves to a Monday that is a federal holiday, the deadline moves again to Tuesday.

Statutory deadlines shift, but payment system cutoffs don't. The two systems most people use handle cutoffs differently:

• EFTPS has a firm cutoff. Submit your payment instructions by 8:00 p.m. Eastern at least one calendar day before the due date.⁴Scheduling on the due date itself is too late.
• IRS Direct Pay accepts same-day payments on the due date. You get credit for the date you select, even if the withdrawal processes later. Payments submitted after 8:00 p.m. Eastern may show as next-business-day in your online account. That label doesn't make the payment late.

The same 8:00 p.m. time means opposite things in the two systems, so check which system you're using before you schedule a payment.

Do fiscal-year filers follow different quarterly tax dates?

Fiscal-year filers do follow a different calendar, based on your fiscal year rather than the calendar year. Your installments fall on the 15th day of the 4th, 6th, and 9th months of your fiscal year, plus the 15th day of the first month after it closes.

For example, with a fiscal year ending June 30, your payments are due on October 15, December 15, March 15, and July 15, and each of them shifts for weekends and holidays the same way the calendar-year dates do.

Can you skip the January quarterly tax payment by filing early?

Yes. If you file your full return and pay the entire balance early, you owe no penalty on the fourth installment.

The statute names January 31. But for tax year 2026 the date you need is February 1, 2027, since January 31 falls on a Sunday and the next-business-day rule takes over. The 2026 Form 1040-ES lists February 1 as the date.

Check this one every year, since the date moves when January 31 falls on a weekend. Filing early makes sense if your books close early: you make one payment instead of two, and you finish the whole tax year in January.

Do farmers and fishers follow a different quarterly tax payment schedule?

Farmers and fishers get a simpler schedule. If at least two-thirds of your gross income comes from farming or fishing in either the current or prior year, you owe one installment instead of four, due January 15.

You can also skip estimated payments by filing your Form 1040 and paying in full by March 1. This is the farmers-and-fishers version of the early-filing rule above, with a later date.

Which states use different due dates?

Most states with an income tax match the federal calendar. Four don't, and three of those differ only in the first quarter.⁵

Delaware and Virginia differ from the federal schedule only in Q1. Their remaining three installments are on the federal dates.

Separately, the IRS routinely postpones estimated tax deadlines for federally declared disaster areas, sometimes by several months, and relief is granted county by county rather than statewide. Those dates change often, so check the IRS disaster relief page for your county.