Do estimated taxes have to be the same each quarter?

[progree]

5. No, but you may have a penalty, and you will have to fill out Form 2210 to annualize

your income (list your income on a quarterly basis) to make the penalty go away. Then, if you use TurboTax, you can't file electronically (federal return) if you annualize. You can eat the penalty and file electronically. (For me my penalty was $3, well worth "eating" the penalty for the convenience of electronic filing.)

On your Minnesota return, if you have a penalty, you can't file electronically. Whether or not you annualize (I had a $1 penalty)

All that happened to me last year, GRRRR GRRRRR GRRRRRR.

Most of my "income" is in December -- I get my one and only annuity check in December, and December is also my month to do my beneficiary IRA RMD and Roth conversions.

This year I just said to hell with it and am paying in the same amount each quarter, so won't have that problem. Though if I make a much bigger Roth conversion than anticipated, I might get screwed again.

Anyway the IRS philosophy is that the April 15 estimated tax payment is supposed to cover Q1 (Jan 1 - March 31), the June 15 estimated tax payment is supposed to cover April 1 - May 31 (2 months), , the September 15 payment covers June 1 - August 31 (3 months), and the January 15 payment covers September 1 - December 31 (4 months),

Edited above that the paragraph to conform to the Kiplinger article I found downthread. Also, I corrected the penalty amounts I owed