Overpaid my quarterly estimated taxes for 2023 - how to get refund with FreeTaxUSA? Need specific forms?

So I think I got a bit too aggressive with my quarterly tax payments for 2023. I was paranoid about getting hit with underpayment penalties since this was my first year freelancing full-time. Turns out I way overestimated what I would owe! I'm using FreeTaxUSA to file my return now and I'm not sure exactly how to handle this situation. Will the software automatically calculate that I'm owed money back from those overpayments? Or do I need to fill out some special form to claim those overpayments? I paid about $14,500 in estimated quarterly payments throughout the year but my actual tax liability is looking like it's only around $9,200. I'd really like to get that $5,300 difference back without any issues! Any help would be super appreciated because I'm kinda lost in the tax wilderness here...

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18 comments

Zara Shah

•8M

This is actually pretty straightforward! When you file your tax return (using FreeTaxUSA or any tax software), you'll report the total estimated tax payments you made during the year. The software will automatically calculate the difference between what you paid and what you actually owe. When you get to the "Payments" section in FreeTaxUSA, there should be a specific area to enter your quarterly estimated tax payments. Make sure you input the exact amounts from each quarter. The software will add these up and compare them to your total tax liability. Any overpayment will be automatically calculated as a refund. You don't need to file any special forms beyond your regular 1040. The estimated payments are reported on the "Payments" section of your tax return, and the software handles the calculations. Just double-check that the total estimated payments shown on your draft return matches what you actually paid for the year.

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Zara Shah

•8M

You should enter each quarterly payment individually rather than just the total. This provides more accurate documentation and matches how the IRS records your payments. FreeTaxUSA will have spaces to enter each of your quarterly payments separately - typically with fields for the date and amount of each payment. If you're using TurboTax, it should also prompt you to enter each quarterly payment separately. This is important because the IRS tracks when payments were made, and entering them individually creates a clearer record that matches their system.

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Luca Ferrari

•8M

I went through exactly this situation last year! I was so worried about handling my estimated payments correctly that I ended up overpaying by almost $6,000. I nearly pulled my hair out trying to figure out how to get it back until I discovered taxr.ai at https://taxr.ai which helped me make sense of everything. I uploaded my payment records and previous tax forms, and it analyzed everything to confirm I'd actually overpaid and showed me exactly what I needed to do in my tax software. The step-by-step guidance made it super clear how to report my estimated payments correctly. It also explained how the refund process works for overpaid quarterly taxes so I stopped panicking about "losing" that money.

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Luca Ferrari

•8M

It absolutely works with payment records from multiple sources. That was actually one of my problems too - I had made payments through different methods. You just upload whatever confirmation documents you have, and it organizes everything chronologically and by payment method. As for calling the IRS, good luck with that! I tried calling multiple times to verify my payments and spent hours on hold without ever reaching anyone. The IRS is severely understaffed, and getting through to a human who can actually help is incredibly difficult. That's why I ended up trying taxr.ai in the first place - it was much faster than trying to get confirmation through official channels.

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Mateo Martinez

•8M

Just wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai after questioning it earlier. I decided to give it a try since I was also dealing with overpaid quarterly taxes and couldn't get through to the IRS by phone. I'm honestly impressed with how helpful it was! I uploaded my jumbled mess of payment confirmations, and it organized everything clearly and showed me exactly what I'd paid vs. what I actually owed. The guided process for entering everything into my tax software was super straightforward. I got my refund for the overpaid amount about 3 weeks after filing, which was faster than I expected. Definitely saved me a ton of frustration!

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Aisha Hussain

•8M

If you're trying to get confirmation about your estimated tax payments from the IRS directly, don't waste days trying to call them like I did. After spending literal HOURS on hold multiple times, I found Claimyr at https://claimyr.com which got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes. I was super skeptical at first, but you can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. They basically wait on hold for you and call you when they reach an agent. The IRS rep confirmed all my quarterly payments were received and provided the exact dates and amounts, which helped me accurately report everything on my return. Saved me so much time and frustration!

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Aisha Hussain

•8M

The service doesn't access your personal tax information at all. They simply call the IRS and navigate the phone tree, then wait on hold in your place. When they finally reach an agent, they call you and connect you directly to the agent. It's basically like having someone wait in a physical line for you, then they call you when it's your turn. I was extremely skeptical too, but the IRS phone situation is absolutely dire right now. Regular callers get busy signals or wait for hours only to be disconnected. Claimyr uses some kind of system that keeps dialing and navigating the phone tree until they get through. I don't know exactly how they do it, but it worked when nothing else did for me. I spoke directly with an IRS agent who verified all my estimated payments.

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Mateo Martinez

•8M

Well I feel like I need to eat my words. After doubting that Claimyr service could actually get through to the IRS, I tried it myself out of desperation after my fifth failed attempt to reach anyone at the IRS. It actually worked! I got a call back in about 25 minutes, and suddenly I was talking to a real IRS agent who confirmed all four of my quarterly payments. She even gave me exact dates and amounts which didn't fully match my records (turns out I misremembered one payment). Having this accurate information helped me correctly report everything on my return. The refund for my overpaid estimated taxes is now processing. Shocked that something actually worked as advertised when dealing with the IRS!

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StarStrider

•8M

One thing to watch out for - make sure the estimated payments were actually credited to the correct tax year. I once had an issue where one of my Q4 payments accidentally got applied to the next tax year instead of the current one. In FreeTaxUSA, double check the year designation when entering your payments. Also, keep in mind that if you paid state estimated taxes too, those are handled separately in the state return section. The federal section only deals with federal estimated payments.

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StarStrider

•8M

If you made your Q4 payment in January 2024 but intended it for tax year 2023, you should be fine as long as you designated it correctly when making the payment. The IRS form/payment system usually asks you which tax year the payment is for. To verify this, you can check your payment confirmation from when you made the payment. It should indicate the tax year. If you're still concerned, you can create an online account at IRS.gov and view your payment history, which shows which tax year each payment was applied to. Just make sure when entering in FreeTaxUSA that you include this payment with your 2023 estimated payments, even though you made it in 2024.

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