How do I report my quarterly tax payments in FreeTaxUSA for my small business?

The estimated tax payments you made should be entered in the Payments section of FreeTaxUSA, not in the business/Schedule C section. Since you've already completed the business income part, here's what you need to do: Look for the "Federal" section in the main menu of FreeTaxUSA. Within that section, you should find a category called "Payments" or "Estimated Taxes." Click on that and you'll see options to enter each quarterly payment you made during 2024. You'll need to enter each payment separately with the correct date and amount. Since you paid through IRS Direct Pay using your SSN, these payments are already associated with your personal tax return, which is correct because as a sole proprietor, your business taxes are reported on your personal return.

I had the exact same problem last year with entering my quarterly payments in FreeTaxUSA! I was stressing out until I found this amazing tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that saved me so much time. It basically analyzes your tax documents and tells you exactly where everything needs to go in your tax software. I uploaded my payment confirmations from IRS Direct Pay, and it immediately identified them as estimated tax payments and told me exactly where to enter them in FreeTaxUSA. It even caught that one of my payments had been applied to the wrong tax year by the IRS!

Just wanted to update that I tried taxr.ai this weekend after seeing it mentioned here. Total game changer! I uploaded all my quarterly payment confirmations from IRS Direct Pay and it instantly recognized them and told me exactly where to enter each one in FreeTaxUSA. It also caught that I had a payment from December 2023 that I was about to enter incorrectly for the 2024 tax year. Would have made a mess of my return! Definitely worth checking out if you're confused about where to enter various tax documents in your software.

If you're having trouble confirming your payment history or need to resolve any issues with those quarterly payments, trying to call the IRS directly is a nightmare right now. I spent HOURS on hold last week trying to confirm if my payments were properly applied. Finally used https://claimyr.com instead (saw it in a YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c) and they got me connected to an actual IRS agent in less than 20 minutes. The agent was able to pull up all my quarterly payments and confirm they were properly applied to my account.

Well I need to eat my words. After posting my skeptical comment yesterday, I decided to try Claimyr just to prove it wouldn't work. I needed to check on my Q4 payment anyway since the IRS website wasn't showing it yet. I'm shocked to report that it actually worked exactly as advertised. I got a call back in about 15 minutes and was connected to an IRS agent who pulled up my account and confirmed all my payments were received, including that Q4 payment that wasn't showing online yet. Saved me from entering duplicate payments in FreeTaxUSA (which I was about to do). Consider me converted from skeptic to believer.

For future reference, if you make estimated tax payments for your business, you might want to consider using IRS's Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) instead of Direct Pay. I switched to EFTPS two years ago and it keeps a much better record of all your payments that you can access anytime. It also lets you schedule payments in advance so you don't miss deadlines. The setup takes a bit longer initially (they mail you a PIN), but it's been way more convenient for tracking my quarterly payments come tax time.

Just a quick tip that saved me last year - after you enter your estimated payments in FreeTaxUSA, go to the "Summary" section and check that your payments are showing up correctly before you submit. Sometimes the payments don't get included in your refund calculation if you don't complete that section fully.

Thanks everyone for all the helpful advice! I was able to find the Payments section in FreeTaxUSA and enter all four of my quarterly payments. I used the standard due dates since I made my payments around those times, and the total amount matched what I actually paid throughout 2024. One thing I learned from this thread is that I should definitely switch to EFTPS for next year to have better record keeping. The IRS Direct Pay system works but doesn't give you the same detailed payment history that would make tax prep easier. I also double-checked in the Summary section like Sean suggested and confirmed that all my payments are showing up correctly in the final calculation. My refund amount looks right now that the estimated payments are properly credited. Really appreciate this community for helping me figure this out!

As someone who's been through this exact scenario with FreeTaxUSA, I can confirm that the process everyone described works perfectly. One additional tip I'd add is to keep a simple spreadsheet next year tracking your quarterly payment dates and amounts as you make them. I learned this the hard way after spending way too much time trying to reconstruct my payment history from bank statements and IRS confirmations. Now I just log each payment immediately after making it - takes 30 seconds but saves hours during tax prep. Also, if you're using Schedule C for your photography business, make sure you're taking advantage of all the business deductions available to you. Equipment purchases, home office expenses, travel for shoots, etc. can really add up and reduce that tax burden that's driving those quarterly payments in the first place.