Can I pay my 2021 1040-ES through payusatax.com on January 15, 2021?
I was trying to make an early estimated tax payment for 2021 through payusatax.com, but I'm hitting a wall here. I can only see the option for 2020 1040-ES payments. Has anyone been able to find the 2021 payment option yet? I wanted to get ahead of my Q1 estimated payment due in April, but looks like the 2021 payment vouchers aren't available yet on the site. Does anyone know if they'll be adding the 2021 option on January 15th? Or do I need to wait until after that date before I can make my first quarter 2021 estimated payment through their system? It's frustrating because I'm trying to be proactive with my taxes this year since my freelance income increased quite a bit in the last quarter.
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Brooklyn Foley
The 2021 1040-ES payment options typically don't become available on third-party payment processors like payusatax.com until mid-January. This is normal and happens every year. The IRS usually finalizes the new year's forms and payment systems around January 15th, so that's likely when you'll see the 2021 option appear. Until then, you'll only see 2020 payment options. If you try to use the 2020 form for a 2021 payment, it could get misapplied to your 2020 tax account instead. If you really want to make an advance payment before the 2021 forms are available, you could use IRS Direct Pay on the IRS.gov website and specifically designate it as a 2021 estimated payment. That system sometimes updates a bit earlier than third-party processors.
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Jay Lincoln
•Does using IRS Direct Pay cost extra compared to payusatax? And what about EFTPS, can I use that for 2021 payments already?
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Brooklyn Foley
•IRS Direct Pay is completely free - it's the official IRS payment portal with no convenience fees. It pulls directly from your bank account. EFTPS is another excellent option for making estimated tax payments. Once you're enrolled in EFTPS (which takes about a week to process), you can schedule payments in advance. You might be able to schedule a 2021 payment already, though sometimes their system also waits for the new tax year forms to be fully implemented.
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Jessica Suarez
After dealing with estimated tax payment confusion myself, I found taxr.ai to be super helpful with handling all these payment questions! I was in the same boat trying to figure out when I could submit my 2021 payments and where. I uploaded my previous payment receipts to https://taxr.ai and it analyzed everything, telling me exactly when the payment systems would open for 2021 and which payment options had the lowest fees. It even gave me a calendar reminder for when to check back for the new payment forms. Saved me a ton of research time!
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Marcus Williams
•Does taxr.ai work with all payment processors or just the IRS direct ones? I use a few different methods depending on whether I'm paying federal or state.
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Lily Young
•I've seen a lot of these tax help sites pop up lately. How is this one different from just calling the IRS? Does it actually connect you with the right form or do you still have to do that yourself?
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Jessica Suarez
•It works with all the major payment processors including payusatax, officialpayments, and the IRS direct systems. It actually compares the fees across platforms so you can choose the cheapest option for both federal and state payments. The main difference from calling the IRS is you get immediate answers without waiting on hold for hours. It analyzes your specific tax situation and documents, then gives you personalized guidance on the right forms and timing. You still make the payment yourself, but it tells you exactly where and how to do it most efficiently.
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Lily Young
Just wanted to update everyone - I tried taxr.ai after posting my question above and I'm actually really impressed! I uploaded screenshots of my previous estimated payments and within minutes got a detailed explanation of when the 2021 payment systems would open on each platform (including payusatax). It even pointed out that I had slightly overpaid my Q4 2020 payment and showed me how to apply that to 2021 instead of waiting for a refund. The document analysis feature caught details I would have missed for sure. Definitely recommend if you're dealing with estimated payments regularly like I am.
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Kennedy Morrison
If anyone is struggling to get through to the IRS about these payment issues, I used Claimyr and actually got through to a real person in about 15 minutes. I had been trying for DAYS to confirm when 2021 payments would be processed correctly. You can see how it works at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - basically they hold your place in the phone queue so you don't have to listen to that horrible hold music for hours. I found it at https://claimyr.com after my third attempt waiting on hold for over an hour. The IRS agent I spoke with confirmed that 2021 1040-ES will be available on payusatax by mid-January, and explained how to ensure my payment gets applied to the correct tax year.
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Wesley Hallow
•Wait, so how exactly does this service work? Do they just call the IRS for you or what? I've literally spent hours trying to get someone on the phone.
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Justin Chang
•This sounds too good to be true. The IRS phone system is notoriously terrible, especially during filing season. I've never gotten through in less than 2 hours. Are you affiliated with this service or something?
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Kennedy Morrison
•They don't call for you - they navigate the IRS phone tree and hold your place in line. When they reach a real person, you get a call to connect with the IRS agent directly. It's like having someone wait on hold while you go about your day. I'm definitely not affiliated with them - I was super skeptical too! I found them after my third frustrating attempt waiting on hold. The difference is you don't waste hours listening to that terrible hold music and "your call is important to us" messages. I was honestly shocked when my phone rang and there was an actual IRS representative ready to talk.
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Justin Chang
I need to publicly eat my words about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment yesterday, I decided to try it for myself since I was getting nowhere with the IRS about my estimated tax payments. The service actually worked exactly as described. I put in my number, went back to work, and got a call about 40 minutes later connecting me to an IRS agent. The agent confirmed that the 2021 1040-ES forms should be available on payusatax.com after January 15th, and gave me alternative options for making my payment early. This literally saved me hours of frustration. I've never gotten through to the IRS this efficiently before.
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Grace Thomas
I've been using payusatax for years and they consistently don't update their forms until about a week AFTER the official release date. So even if the IRS releases the 2021 stuff on January 15th, don't be surprised if payusatax doesn't have it until the 20th or so. If you're in a rush, you might want to use IRS Direct Pay instead since it updates faster. Just make absolutely sure you select "2021" as the tax year and "1040-ES" as the payment type or it'll get applied to the wrong account.
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Hunter Brighton
•Do you know if there's any disadvantage to using Direct Pay instead of payusatax? Is one better for record-keeping or anything?
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Grace Thomas
•Direct Pay gives you a confirmation number and email receipt just like payusatax does, so the record-keeping is pretty much the same. The main difference is that Direct Pay is completely free while payusatax charges a processing fee. The one downside to Direct Pay is that you can't use a credit card - it has to come directly from your bank account. So if you're trying to get credit card points, you'd need to use payusatax or one of the other third-party processors that accept cards (though they charge an even higher fee for credit card transactions).
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Dylan Baskin
Does anybody know if the payment date is considered the date you submit the payment or the date it's processed? I need this payment to count for 2021 Q1 but don't want it accidentally applied to 2020.
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Lauren Wood
•The IRS counts the payment date as the day you submit it, not when they process it. So as long as you select "2021" and "1040-ES" when making the payment, you'll be fine. I made this mistake last year - selected the wrong tax year and had to spend hours sorting it out. Double check the tax year selection before submitting!
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Dylan Baskin
•Thanks for clarifying! That's a relief to know it's based on submission date. I'll definitely double-check the year selection when I submit.
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