Form 2210 Worksheet, Part III Section B - Confused about line 1b and where to put my federal withholding for penalty calculation?

You're absolutely on the right track with Form 2210! When you're calculating your penalty using the annualized income method (Box C), your federal withholdings definitely count as payments. For line 1b in Part III Section B, you should include all federal income tax withholding from your paychecks. The tricky part is that you need to determine when those withholdings occurred within each quarter. The IRS actually has a default assumption for this - they consider withholding to have been paid evenly throughout the year unless you can show otherwise. This means you would typically take your total withholding for the year (from your W-2 box 2) and divide by 4, then enter that amount in each quarter's column. However, if your withholding varied significantly between quarters (which sounds likely with your inconsistent second job), you might benefit from figuring out the actual withholding amounts for each quarter by looking at your pay stubs. This can make a difference in your penalty calculation since earlier payments reduce the underpayment period.

After struggling with this exact issue last year, I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which completely saved me when dealing with Form 2210. I had a similar situation with inconsistent income and couldn't figure out how to properly allocate my withholdings by quarter. I uploaded my pay stubs to taxr.ai and it automatically calculated the correct quarterly amounts for line 1b. It also explained to me that you're supposed to count withholding on the dates they actually occurred, not evenly throughout the year if your income fluctuated (which can reduce your penalty). The service also showed me how to properly document everything in case of an audit. It even found a calculation error I made in Part IV that would have cost me an extra $215 in penalties!

Just wanted to update after trying taxr.ai for my Form 2210 issues. I was really skeptical (as you can see from my previous comment), but wow - it actually worked amazingly well. I uploaded my messy pay stubs from both jobs and it immediately organized my withholdings by quarter. The best part was that it showed me how to properly allocate my withholdings to reduce my penalty by $278 compared to what I had calculated myself! It even explained the "deemed paid dates" concept for withholding, which none of the big tax software programs had clarified for me. If you're dealing with this form and fluctuating income like the original poster, it's definitely worth checking out. Saved me hours of frustration and probably paid for itself with the penalty reduction.

For anyone still struggling with Form 2210 or other IRS forms, I had a similar issue and ended up needing to talk to someone at the IRS to get clarity. After being on hold for literally 3 hours and then getting disconnected, I found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). They have this service where they actually wait on hold with the IRS for you, then call you when an agent picks up! I was super skeptical but you can see how it works in their demo video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I used it to get specific clarification on how to handle my unusual withholding situation on Form 2210. The IRS agent confirmed I could use actual withholding dates rather than equal quarterly amounts, which reduced my penalty substantially. Saved me hours of hold time and potential penalties!

I have to eat my words and apologize for my skepticism about Claimyr. After posting that comment thinking it was BS, I was desperate enough to try it for my CP2000 issue that I've been trying to resolve for weeks. It actually worked exactly as described. I put in my number, and about 2.5 hours later (during which I was just going about my day), I got a call connecting me directly to an IRS agent. The agent was able to help me understand exactly how to respond to the notice AND gave me specific advice about documenting my withholding on Form 2210 by quarter rather than dividing equally. For anyone dealing with Form 2210 withholding issues like the original poster, getting direct guidance from the IRS saved me from making an expensive mistake. I'll never waste another day on hold again.

Just to add a bit more context to this Form 2210 discussion - I'm a seasonal worker with very uneven income throughout the year. What I learned is that line 1b should list ALL payments (including withholding) with their actual dates. For withholding specifically, you have two options: 1. Treat it as paid evenly throughout the year (25% per quarter) 2. Assign it to specific quarters based on actual pay dates If your income and withholding vary significantly by quarter (like mine and apparently OP's), option 2 almost always results in a lower penalty because it better reflects when you actually had income and made tax payments on it. Pro tip: Create a simple spreadsheet with columns for each pay date, gross pay, and withholding amount. Then sum the withholding by quarter. This makes it much easier to calculate line 1b correctly.

Im still confused bout something... the instructions for form 2210 say withholding is "considered paid" in equal amounts on the payment due dates (4/15, 6/15, 9/15, 1/15) UNLESS you choose to use actual dates?? Is that right or am i misreading?

This is such a helpful thread! I'm dealing with a similar situation where I had major income fluctuations due to freelance work on top of my regular job. One thing I want to add that might help others: when you're calculating your quarterly withholding amounts for line 1b, make sure you're looking at the actual pay dates, not just when you received the paystubs. Sometimes there's a delay between when taxes are withheld and when the paystub is dated. Also, if you had any state tax withholding, don't accidentally include that in your federal withholding totals for Form 2210 - I almost made that mistake! Only the federal withholding from Box 2 of your W-2s should be used for the penalty calculation. The spreadsheet approach mentioned by NeonNebula is really the way to go. I created one with columns for pay date, federal withholding amount, and then subtotals by quarter. It made the whole process much clearer and I caught a few small errors in my initial calculations.

This has been incredibly helpful! I'm dealing with Form 2210 for the first time and was completely lost on how to handle my withholdings. I had three different jobs this year - two W-2 positions and some 1099 work - so my income was all over the place. Reading through this thread, I now understand that I should use the actual quarterly withholding amounts from my pay stubs rather than dividing by 4, especially since I'm using the annualized income method (Box C). The spreadsheet approach sounds like exactly what I need to organize everything. One quick question though - if I had overlapping jobs where I was getting paychecks from two different employers in the same pay period, do I just add up all the federal withholding from both paychecks for that quarter? Or is there some other consideration I need to think about when multiple employers are involved? Thanks to everyone who contributed to this discussion - you've saved me hours of confusion and probably some penalty money too!