Late payment of federal estimated tax

[rick-hunter]

My client is just now filing their 2019 return.  She made a federal estimated payment in December 2021.  But the Tax Payments Worksheet won't allow me to enter that date.  It says the date must be between 2018 and 2020.

It is allowing me to enter that date for a California payment.

I'm tempted to just enter a random 2020 date, but I'd rather be accurate.

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

she sent a 2019 estimated payment in 2021? I wonder if they credited it to the right year....has she created an IRS online account? I would, just to be sure they credited it properly.

[rick-hunter]

Thanks, Lisa.  That's a good point and I'll contact her and ask her to confirm.  But assuming it went to the right year, my other question is how to enter it in ProSeries.

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

I guess Id use 12/31/20 thats as close to the actual date as you can get.  Id be very surprised if this got credited to 2019 as she intended.

[rcherenson]

If she mailed a check, she could write 2019 on it, but if she paid it online, it will not allow you to apply it to a passed date. It is too late to make an estimated payment toward 2021 online, as of Jan. 18, so that may be the case even for checks. 

The client needs to check their IRS account and see what happened and they may need to call the IRS to find out if that payment, if recorded, was applied to or can be moved to the correct year at this late date.

[rick-hunter]

Thank you both!  FYI, she does have IRS and FTB online accounts and just sent me screenshots of the payment history.  Both of the payments were correctly credited to 2019, which is good news.  I guess I'll just tell ProSeries that the federal payment was made in 2020.