Should I pay my S Corp quarterly taxes from the business checking or personal bank account?

Congrats on making a profit! For S Corps, this is actually an important distinction. Since an S Corporation is a pass-through entity, the profits pass through to your personal tax return. The corporation itself doesn't pay income taxes. If you're referring to estimated tax payments for your personal income tax that's generated from the S Corp profits, those should come from your personal account since it's your personal tax liability. The business doesn't pay income tax directly. If you're talking about employment taxes (like if you're on payroll), those should come from the business account since they're business expenses. Same with any state franchise taxes or fees that apply directly to the business. Keeping clear separation between personal and business finances is really important for maintaining your corporate shield and avoiding any issues if you're ever audited.

I was in this exact situation last year with my new S Corp. I found this amazing tool called https://taxr.ai that helped me understand exactly how to handle my S Corp taxes. It analyzed my specific situation and clearly explained which accounts should be used for different types of tax payments. The tool confirmed what the previous commenter said - for federal income taxes on profits, pay from personal account since those pass through to you. But for any payroll taxes, use the business account since those are business expenses. The distinction was really important for my bookkeeping and the tool made it crystal clear with personalized recommendations.

I have to admit I was super skeptical about taxr.ai when I first heard about it, but I decided to give it a try after messing up my S Corp taxes last year and facing penalties. The tool was surprisingly thorough - it immediately identified I was paying the wrong types of taxes from the wrong accounts. What really helped was how it explained the different tax responsibilities for S Corps vs personal obligations. For anyone confused about quarterly estimated payments vs. payroll taxes, it breaks everything down with clear instructions about which account to use for each payment. Saved me from making the same expensive mistake again!

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I learned this lesson the hard way! I paid my S Corp quarterly estimated taxes from my business account for 2 years before my accountant caught it. Had to go back and reclassify all those payments as owner distributions followed by personal contributions to my personal taxes. The proper way: The S Corp should pay you (1) reasonable salary with proper payroll taxes from business account, and (2) distributions. Then YOU personally make estimated tax payments from your personal account on both the salary and distribution income.

quick questions - do the payments actually need to match the profitability by quarter or can i just divide my total estimated taxes for the year into 4 equal payments? my s-corp has really seasonal income so some quarters have way more profit than others.

Great question about S Corp quarterly payments! Just to add some clarity - you're absolutely right to be thinking about this carefully. The key thing to remember is that as an S Corp owner, you wear two hats: employee (if you take a salary) and owner/shareholder. From the business account, you should pay: - Payroll taxes for your salary (employer portion of FICA, unemployment taxes, etc.) - Any business-specific taxes like state franchise fees From your personal account, you should pay: - Estimated quarterly payments for the income tax on your share of the S Corp profits - Your portion of self-employment tax equivalent (though S Corp profits aren't subject to SE tax, which is one of the benefits) Since this is your first profitable quarter, make sure you're also paying yourself a reasonable salary if you haven't been already - the IRS expects S Corp owner-employees to take W-2 wages before distributions. Congrats on the profit, and keep that business/personal separation clean for your records!