Frequency Limit of Current Tax Payment

[aedwan]

IRS imposes a limit of 2 payments per year for Form 1040 current tax due. Does California FTB conform to this IRS rule or can taxpayer make more than 2 payments of current tax year without installment plan? 

[sjrcpa]

"IRS imposes a limit of 2 payments per year for Form 1040 current tax due"

Really? Where did you get that? 

[IRonMaN]

Thanks for asking that - I was wondering what I was missing 

[BobKamman]

https://www.irs.gov/payments/frequency-limit-table-by-type-of-tax-payment

[sjrcpa]

I never realized this.

So if I sent 3 checks- once a month for 3 months- for a 2023 balance due on a 1040, IRS wouldn't accept the 3rd check? I find that hard to believe. Who's going to test this?

I imagine Direct Pay could detect this, maybe.

[dkh]

How about that..........learned something new today.

Would think they'd accept as many payments as a taxpayer is willing to send.

[aedwan]

Taxpayer received message “You have reached the maximum number of payments allowed by the IRS for this payment type for the current period using this Social Security Number (or ITIN)." Both IRS Direct Pay and a third-party provider flagged payment. 
Wondering if FTB applies same rule. 

[dkh]

Can't taxpayer just mail in payments if online limit is two payments and they need to make more ?

[BobKamman]

The limits apply only to debit card, credit card or cash payments.  If a bank is going to give you 100,000 miles after you spend $8,000 on a new card in three months, you're going to be looking at ways to do it.  And charging your taxes is a recommended method, even if the fee is close to 2%. $150 for a round trip business class lie-flat seat to Europe?  I'll take it.  IRS must be paying something for the privilege of accepting such payments, if they want to limit their use.  

As for cash payments -- that costs $4 if you want to do it at the corner convenience store, but the fee must not cover the entire cost.  And the limit is $1,000 per day.  https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p5250.pdf 

[rbynaker]

Huh.

I remember the days when cash used to be legal tender for all debts, public and private.  Pretty sure I read that somewhere . . . seems like they need to add a footnote on the dollar bill "*except for the third or subsequent payment of a federal 1040 tax obligation within one year" 🙂

[BobKamman]

The National Park Service has been sued over its policy of accepting only payment of credit cards or debit cards for entry fees and refusing to take cash, a policy the agency that manages national parks, national monuments and other sites adopted last year.

Three park visitors, Esther van der Werf of Ojai, Toby Stover of High Falls, N.Y. and Elizabeth Dasburg of Darien, Ga., filed the lawsuit March 6 in the U.S. District Court of D.C., saying that they were prevented from using cash at national parks, historic sites and monuments across the country, including in Arizona, New York and Georgia.

They said that the National Park Service’s cashless policy violates federal law, citing a U.S. code that requires U.S. currency to be legal tender for all public charges. But the federal agency argues that accepting cash is costly and time-consuming.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-20/the-national-park-service-will-only-take-plastic... 

[rbynaker]

LOL

"But the federal agency argues that accepting cash is costly and time-consuming."

I'd wager that most people feel that way about filing tax returns.

[dkh]

---

@BobKamman wrote:

. But the federal agency argues that accepting cash is costly and time-consuming.

Harder to track people if paying in cash.  (oooh does that sound paranoid?)

Cash is safer for employees - no robberies.    Also, no employees stealing cash.

[sjrcpa]

Is there an exception for marijuana businesses? I thought they paid taxes in cash.