Q4 2026 Estimated Tax: The January 15, 2027 Deadline for Freelancers

The fourth and last estimated tax payment for 2026 is due on January 15, 2027. It covers income you earn from September 1 to December 31, 2026 (IRS Publication 505, Table 2-1). This guide covers how to work out the amount, the rules that protect you from a penalty, how to skip the payment by filing early, how to pay, and California's separate final installment.

The date

January 15, 2027 is a Friday, so it does not move. When a due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, a payment made on the next business day is on time (Publication 505).

How to work out the Q4 payment

If your income comes in evenly through the year, the IRS lets you divide the year's estimated tax by four and pay one quarter at each due date. It says to use this method “only if your income is basically the same throughout the year” (Publication 505, Regular Installment Method). For a freelancer, the year's estimated tax is self-employment tax plus federal income tax, less any tax withheld elsewhere.

1. Estimate your 2026 net profit: the whole year's business income less business expenses, including what you expect to earn by December 31.
2. Work out the year's self-employment tax and income tax on it. Our self-employment tax calculator does this; how we calculate shows each step.
3. Take the amount you need to have paid for the year (see the safe harbor below) and subtract the three payments you have already made. What is left is your Q4 payment.

Paying more in January does not undo a shortfall earlier in the year. The penalty is worked out separately for each payment period, and you can owe it for a period you underpaid “even if you are due a refund when you file your tax return” (Publication 505). If your income was uneven, Publication 505 points to Schedule AI, the annualized income installment method in the instructions for Form 2210, to “avoid or reduce this penalty” (Publication 505).

The safe harbor: 90%, 100% or 110%

You generally have to pay estimated tax if you expect to owe at least $1,000 for 2026 after withholding and refundable credits, and your withholding and credits will come to less than the smaller of (Publication 505, Figure 2-A):

• 90% of the tax on your 2026 return, or
• 100% of the tax on your 2025 return, if that return covered all 12 months.

Paying at least the smaller of those two amounts, on time and in the required installments, is the safe harbor. If your 2025 adjusted gross income was more than $150,000 ($75,000 if married filing separately), the prior-year figure is 110% instead of 100% (Form 1040-ES (2026); Publication 505).

Last year's figure is the one you already know: it is on your 2025 return. If your income rose in 2026, paying 100% (or 110%) of last year's tax can protect you from the penalty even though you will owe more when you file.

Skipping Q4 by filing early

You can skip the January payment if you file your return early and pay everything you owe with it.

“If you file your 2026 Form 1040 or 1040-SR by January 31, 2027, and pay the rest of the tax you owe, you don't need to make the payment due on January 15, 2027.”

January 31, 2027 is a Sunday, and the 2026 Form 1040-ES gives the date as February 1, 2027: you don't have to make the payment due January 15, 2027 “if you file your 2026 tax return by February 1, 2027, and pay the entire balance due with your return” (Form 1040-ES (2026)). Both conditions apply: the return filed and the whole balance paid. Filing early without paying in full does not replace the fourth payment.

How to pay

The 2026 Form 1040-ES lists these ways to pay (Form 1040-ES):

• IRS Direct Pay: a transfer from your checking or savings account “at no cost to you”.
• Your IRS Online Account: estimated tax payments and other payments, with your payment history in the same place.
• EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System): online or by phone from your bank account. “There is no fee for this service, but you must be enrolled.”
• Debit card, credit card or digital wallet, through the processors listed at IRS.gov/Payments. “A fee is charged by these service providers.”
• Check or money order by mail, with the Form 1040-ES payment voucher for that due date.

The vouchers are only for mailed payments: “Complete and send in the voucher only if you are making a payment by check or money order” (Form 1040-ES). An electronic payment needs no voucher.

A mailed payment counts as paid on its postmark date: “If you mail your payment and it is postmarked by the due date, the date of the U.S. postmark is considered the date of payment.” The same form warns that the postmark is the date the mail “is processed at a facility”, which “may or may not be the date you drop your payment off in the mailbox” (Form 1040-ES (2026)). If you mail close to January 15, 2027, that gap can make a payment late.

California: the final 30%, paid to the FTB

California's estimated tax goes to the Franchise Tax Board, not the IRS, and is not split into four equal parts. The fourth installment is 30% of the year's required amount, due January 15, 2027. There was no third installment: nothing was due to California on September 15, 2026 (0%) (FTB, 2026 Form 540-ES instructions).

• Safe harbor. The required amount is the smaller of 90% of your 2026 California tax or 100% of your 2025 tax. If your 2025 California AGI was more than $150,000 (less if married or an RDP filing separately), the prior-year figure is 110%. At $1,000,000 of 2026 California AGI or more ($500,000 if filing separately), you must base it on 2026 tax (FTB 540-ES instructions).
• Skipping it. “If you file your 2026 tax return by January 31, 2027, and pay the entire balance due, you do not have to make your last estimated tax payment” (FTB 540-ES instructions).
• Paying. With Web Pay you can pay online or schedule a payment up to one year in advance, and you don't mail Form 540-ES. The FTB also says: “You are required to remit all your payments electronically once you make an estimate or extension payment exceeding $20,000 or you file an original tax return with a total tax liability over $80,000” (FTB 540-ES instructions).

Other states have their own estimated tax rules and dates. Check your state tax agency's instructions before paying.

Worked examples

A single filer with no other income and no tax withheld, taking the standard deduction, using 2026 figures. Texas stands in for a state with no income tax (“Texas has no state income tax”, Texas Comptroller). Self-employment tax is charged on 92.35% of net profit, and the QBI deduction lowers federal income tax but not self-employment tax.

Each table shows two versions of the Q4 payment. “100%” assumes you pay this year's whole estimated tax through the four payments, evenly. “90%” is the least you can pay on the current-year safe harbor. If 100% of last year's tax is smaller, that is your floor instead. California's Q4 share is 30%, not a quarter.

Example 1: $60,000 net profit

Example 2: $120,000 net profit

The federal figures are the same in both columns: the state you live in does not change your federal tax here. The California payment is a separate payment to the FTB, on top of the federal one. These are estimates from Taxorly's engine, which does not apply credits or other income; your own return may differ.

Sources

• IRS, Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals (2026)
• IRS, Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax (2026)
• IRS, Payments
• IRS, Direct Pay
• IRS, Online Account
• U.S. Treasury, EFTPS
• California Franchise Tax Board, 2026 Instructions for Form 540-ES
• California Franchise Tax Board, Payments
• Texas Comptroller, “Texas is open for small business”

General information, not tax advice. Check your own figures with a licensed tax professional before you pay or file.