I believe I have to pay estimated taxes before January 15 because I had long term capital gains from stock sales in 2025.
- To make sure I don't pay a penalty, do I just need to make sure I submit an estimated tax payment for at least as much tax as I owed last year?
- Do I have to do this for federal and NY state?
- How do I do I make the payment? (I assume on irs.gov, but do you have more details on the form I submit or how to make the payment?)
I appreciate your help. Thank you!
How do I pay estimated taxes if I had long term capital gains from stock sales in 2025? (US – NY)
byu/0k_Flow inpersonalfinance
Posted by 0k_Flow
2 Comments
The “as much tax as I owed last year” rule works in conjunction with W2 Withholdings. If your withholding was absent or not enough, then paying before may not eliminate the penalty , but it will certainly help reduce it. Best is to use Form 2210 to figure out how much you might owe. From there you can also figure out what you can do before Jan 15th to reduce the penalty or totally eliminate it.
To pay – set up an account with IRS ( irs.gov) and then you can pay via ACH
If you are trying to meet safe harbor using the last year method, it’s already too late. The “100% of last year” method requires the payments be made in 4 equal installments on time. If you just started thinking about it, you already missed the deadline for the first installment (4/15/2025).
You can do the annualized income installment method, on the last page of [Form 2210](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f2210.pdf).
>Do I have to do this for federal and NY state?
They are separately determined. You may meet safe harbor in one but not the other.
>How do I do I make the payment? (I assume on irs.gov, but do you have more details on the form I submit or how to make the payment?)
When making a payment, select “estimated tax payment”, year 2025, quarter Q4