Do I have until April to pay my taxes owed to the Federal? Can I make split payments now until then?

Yes, you can absolutely make partial payments between now and the April filing deadline! The IRS accepts partial payments, and as long as the entire balance is paid by the deadline (April 15, 2025), you won't incur any penalties or interest. The easiest way to make these payments is through the IRS Direct Pay system on irs.gov - it's free and you can specify exactly what you're paying for. Just select the reason for payment as "tax return" and the appropriate tax year. You can make as many separate payments as you want before the deadline.

After facing a similar situation last year, I found an amazing tool that helped me plan my tax payments. I was stressing about owing about $1,200 and needing to split payments, but wasn't sure how to track everything properly. A friend recommended https://taxr.ai and it was a game-changer. The system analyzed my tax documents, confirmed exactly what I owed, and even helped me set up a payment schedule that worked with my budget. The best part was that it also checked if I qualified for any credits or deductions I might have missed that could lower my total tax bill. Turns out I did miss a few things and was able to reduce what I owed!

I want to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai. After asking about it here, I decided to give it a try since I was really stressing about my tax bill. It actually found a work expense deduction I completely missed that reduced what I owed by about $280! The interface was super straightforward and I felt comfortable with the security measures they had in place. The payment planning feature was really helpful too - it laid out exactly when and how much I should pay each time to make sure everything was covered by the deadline. Just wanted to share since it really helped me out of a tough spot!

If you need to talk to someone at the IRS about your payment options (which can be IMPOSSIBLE to do), try https://claimyr.com - I used it last year when I was in a similar situation and needed to confirm something about my payment plan options. I spent days trying to get through to an actual human at the IRS with no luck. Claimyr basically holds your place in the phone queue and calls you when an actual IRS agent is on the line. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c It saved me literally hours of waiting on hold, and the IRS agent I spoke with confirmed I could make my own payment schedule as long as everything was paid by the filing deadline. They also explained some other options I hadn't considered.

I need to admit I was wrong about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment last week, I decided to try it because I was at my wit's end with IRS hold times. I used the service yesterday morning and it actually worked exactly as described. I went about my day and got a call about 2 hours later with an IRS agent already on the line! The agent confirmed everything about making my own payment schedule before the April deadline and even gave me some tips on how to make sure the payments were properly applied to my account. Saved me at least 3 hours of hold time and frustration. Just thought I should follow up since it actually delivered what it promised.

Just wanted to share my experience from last year - I split my tax payment into 3 parts (Feb, March, April) and it worked fine. One thing to watch out for: make sure you keep good records of all your payments. I recommend taking screenshots of the confirmation pages and writing down the confirmation numbers. Also, don't wait until April 15th to make your final payment! The IRS website gets SUPER slow that day and sometimes has technical issues with everyone trying to pay at once. I'd aim to have everything paid at least a few days before the deadline.

Just be careful - if you don't pay the full amount by the deadline, you'll get hit with both penalties AND interest. The failure-to-pay penalty is usually 0.5% of the unpaid taxes for each month or part of a month the tax remains unpaid, up to 25% of your unpaid taxes. The interest compounds daily!!!

If you're tight on cash, also consider filing your taxes early but scheduling your payment(s) for later dates. You can file now in February and schedule payments for March and April. This way you know exactly what you owe but can still split up the payments. I do this every year when I owe.

Another option to consider is using the IRS payment estimator tool to double-check your calculation before making any payments. I made the mistake last year of calculating my owed amount wrong and ended up overpaying by about $200. It took months to get the refund processed! The tool is free on the IRS website and can help you verify that $850 figure is correct. It's especially helpful if you have any unusual income sources or deductions that might affect your final tax liability. Better to catch any errors now than deal with corrections later. Also, if you do end up needing more time to pay, the IRS short-term payment plan (120 days or less) doesn't have a setup fee, unlike the longer installment agreements. Just something to keep in mind as a backup option.