Before You Make Your September 15 Estimated Tax Payment, Check These 5 Numbers

 

September 15 is the third-quarter estimated tax payment deadline for many business owners. By this point in the year, it is tempting to pull up the estimate your accountant gave you earlier in the year, make the payment, and move on.

But the number calculated in March or April was based on what was known at the time.

Your business may look very different now.

Revenue may be ahead of plan. Margins may have tightened. You may have taken larger owner distributions, changed payroll, purchased equipment, hired employees, lost a major customer, or had a much stronger summer than expected. Any of those changes can affect what the rest of the tax year looks like.

That is why the September estimated tax payment can be more useful as a planning checkpoint than simply another deadline.

Before making the payment, there are five numbers worth reviewing.

1. Your Year-to-Date Profit

Start with year-to-date profit, but do not stop at the number sitting at the bottom of a QuickBooks report.

For tax planning purposes, the question is whether your books give you a reliable picture of what the business has actually earned so far.

That means looking at whether revenue has been recorded properly, expenses are current, payroll is reconciled, major purchases have been classified correctly, and unusual transactions are not distorting the numbers.

This matters because estimated taxes are ultimately driven by taxable income, not by how much cash happens to be sitting in the bank.

A business can have plenty of cash and still be building a significant tax liability. The opposite can happen as well. A large equipment purchase or debt payment may reduce cash without reducing taxable income by the same amount.

There is another reason September is a useful time to look closely at profit: eight months of actual results are generally much more informative than the assumptions used to prepare estimates earlier in the year.

If year-to-date profit is already approaching what you expected to earn for the entire year, your original estimates deserve another look.

2. Owner Compensation and Distributions

For owners of S corporations and other pass-through businesses, the amount coming out of the company matters, but so does how it is coming out.

An S corporation owner, for example, may be receiving both W-2 wages and shareholder distributions. Those two forms of compensation do not receive identical tax treatment.

By September, an accountant should be able to look at the relationship between the owner’s compensation, distributions, profitability, and role in the business and identify issues that may need attention before year-end.

For an S corporation shareholder who works in the business, reasonable compensation is particularly important. If profitability has increased significantly while payroll has remained unusually low, waiting until tax preparation season to review compensation can create an avoidable problem.

Distributions also need context. They are not simply another business expense, and taking money out of the company generally does not reduce taxable business income.

This is one of the areas where business owners can get surprised. They may think, “I only left this much money in the business,” while their tax return ultimately reflects a much larger share of taxable profit.

September gives you time to identify that disconnect while there are still several payroll cycles left in the year.

3. Federal and State Taxes You Have Already Paid

Before deciding what to send with the September estimate, reconcile what has actually been paid.

That sounds simple, but payment histories are not always as clean as expected.

You may have made first- and second-quarter estimated payments, had federal income tax withheld through payroll, paid state estimates, applied a prior-year refund toward the current year, or made a payment with an extension.

Those amounts need to be considered together with the updated income projection.

This is also where relying on last year’s tax bill alone can become misleading.

Estimated tax rules include safe-harbor provisions that may help taxpayers avoid underpayment penalties, but satisfying a safe harbor and paying enough to cover the tax you will ultimately owe are not necessarily the same thing.

A growing business owner might technically be on track with required estimates and still face a substantial balance when the return is filed.

The better question in September is not simply, “Have I paid what I was told to pay?”

It is, “Based on what we know now, where am I likely to land?”

4. Your Projected Full-Year Income

Year-to-date results tell you where you have been. Tax planning also requires an informed estimate of what is likely to happen between now and December 31.

This does not need to be a perfect forecast.

It does need to reflect what you already know about the business.

Look at signed contracts, recurring revenue, seasonality, expected bonuses, upcoming large expenses, planned hires, known customer losses, and any unusual transactions expected before year-end.

For businesses with uneven income, simply annualizing the first eight months can produce a poor estimate. A retailer heading into the holiday season has a very different fourth-quarter outlook from a business whose busiest months have already passed.

A useful projection also gives your accountant something much more valuable than a tax estimate: time.

If projected income has increased materially, there may still be opportunities to evaluate retirement plan contributions, the timing of qualifying equipment purchases, depreciation options, entity-level elections where applicable, charitable planning, or other legitimate deductions and credits.

Those decisions should be based on the needs and economics of the business, not made simply to generate a deduction. Spending $100,000 solely to save a fraction of that amount in taxes rarely makes financial sense.

The purpose of planning is to understand the tax consequences of decisions you already need or want to make and determine whether timing them differently creates an advantage.

5. How Much Cash Is Actually Available

A tax projection without a cash-flow discussion is incomplete.

Once you have a reasonable idea of your expected tax liability, compare it with the cash the business needs for payroll, rent, inventory, debt payments, planned purchases, and normal operating reserves.

This is especially important for owners of pass-through entities. The business may generate the taxable income, but the tax liability generally lands on the owner’s individual return.

If most of the cash is being reinvested into the company, tied up in receivables, or used for inventory and growth, the owner can end up with a tax bill that feels disconnected from the cash personally available to pay it.

That problem is much easier to address in September than the following April.

Depending on the situation, the answer may be adjusting the estimated payment, increasing withholding, changing the timing or amount of owner distributions, setting aside cash over the remaining months of the year, or revisiting the full-year projection.

The important part is seeing the cash requirement before it becomes urgent.

September 15 Should Lead to a December 31 Conversation

The September estimated tax payment is important, but the more valuable conversation may be what happens immediately after it.

By September, there is enough actual financial information to make year-end tax planning far more concrete. At the same time, there is still enough year left to act on many planning decisions.

That window gets smaller quickly.

Once December 31 passes, many strategies that depended on taking action during the tax year are no longer available. At that point, tax preparation is largely about reporting what already happened.

A September review can instead answer questions such as:

• Are current estimated payments still appropriate based on actual results?
• Is the business heading toward a larger tax liability than the owner expects?
• Does owner compensation need to be revisited before the final payrolls of the year?
• Are there planned purchases or investments whose timing should be evaluated?
• How much cash should be reserved for taxes through year-end?
• Are there deductions, credits, retirement contributions, or entity-specific planning opportunities that should be evaluated now rather than during tax preparation?

Not every business will need to make a change. Sometimes the original estimate remains appropriate.

Knowing that after reviewing current numbers is very different from assuming it.

What to Send Your Accountant Before September 15

If you want the September estimate reviewed rather than simply processed, having current information available makes the conversation much more productive.

At minimum, that usually means current year-to-date financial statements, payroll information, owner distributions, estimated tax payments already made, and a realistic outlook for the remaining months of the year.

If there has been an unusual event, such as a major asset purchase, property sale, new business acquisition, significant capital expenditure, large gain, or major change in revenue, mention it. Those events can matter considerably more than small fluctuations in routine expenses.

The goal is not to make the September estimate perfect down to the dollar. It is to make sure the payment reflects the business you have today rather than the business you expected to have several months ago.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who has to make a September 15 estimated tax payment?

Individuals who expect to owe tax that is not sufficiently covered through withholding may need to make quarterly estimated tax payments. This commonly includes small business owners, partners, S corporation shareholders, sole proprietors, independent contractors, and others who receive income without enough tax withholding.

The requirement depends on the taxpayer’s individual circumstances, expected tax liability, withholding, credits, and prior-year tax information.

Is September 15 the third or fourth estimated tax payment?

For individuals using the calendar-year estimated tax schedule, the payment due September 15 is generally the third estimated tax installment. The fourth payment is generally due January 15 of the following year.

Can I change my September estimated tax payment?

Yes. Estimated payments do not necessarily have to remain the same if your income or tax situation has changed. A revised tax projection can help determine whether an adjustment is appropriate while also considering estimated-tax safe-harbor and underpayment rules.

What happens if my business made more money than expected this year?

Higher-than-expected business income can increase the owner’s projected federal and state tax liabilities, particularly for owners of pass-through entities. Rather than waiting until the return is prepared, updated projections can help determine whether estimated payments should change and whether year-end planning opportunities should be evaluated.

Can I just pay the same estimated tax amount I paid last quarter?

You can make the scheduled payment, but that does not mean it is still the right amount for your situation. If income, deductions, withholding, owner compensation, or other circumstances have changed materially, the underlying projection may need to be updated.

Will making a large business purchase before December 31 reduce my taxes?

Potentially, but the tax treatment depends on what is purchased, when it is placed in service, the business’s circumstances, and the tax rules applicable to the asset and tax year. Section 179, depreciation, and other provisions may affect the deduction.

A purchase should generally make business sense first. Tax savings can improve the economics of a necessary investment, but they rarely justify unnecessary spending on their own.

Why should I start year-end tax planning in September?

September offers a useful combination of actual year-to-date financial data and remaining time before December 31. Waiting until tax preparation season may mean certain strategies that required action during the tax year are no longer available.

Before You Make the Payment, Look Beyond the Payment

September 15 is a tax deadline, but for a business owner it can also be one of the better points in the year to compare the tax plan with what actually happened.

Review the profit. Reconcile what has already been paid. Look at compensation and distributions. Build a realistic projection through December. Then make sure the expected tax obligation works with the cash the business needs to operate.

That process may confirm that your September payment is exactly where it should be. Or it may uncover a larger issue that would have otherwise waited until tax season.

Either way, you still have something in September that becomes increasingly valuable as the year comes to a close: time to plan.

Talk With Prudent Accountants

If your business has changed since your estimated tax payments were originally calculated, this is a good time to revisit the numbers.

Prudent Accountants can help business owners review current financials, update tax projections, evaluate estimated payments, and identify year-end tax-planning opportunities while there is still time to act before December 31.

Contact us to discuss your September estimated tax payment and year-end tax planning.

This blog “Before You Make Your September 15 Estimated Tax Payment, Check These 5 Numbers” was originally posted Here.