Estimate Taxes for the following Year
Recently I have been to a couple of sites where they allow you to do an estimated tax for the upcoming year. For example, if this is 2025, they have a tax calculator that allows you to do an estimated tax return for 2026 using the latest tax tables (as they are released) and any new tax laws that have come out (e.g., the new $6,000 senior deduction). It would be a nice added touch if you could provide a simple calculator for us that would allow us to calculate our potential tax situation for the upcoming year (i.e., like in the later part of the year - Sept or Oct or Nov - to be able to do a thumbnail sketch for what we might expect for filing in Feb of the following year). Has any thought about doing that been in the works? Just a nice touch, I think.
A couple of the benefits of doing the above would be:
- allow for more interaction with your customers who would come more often to the site
- allow for more potential customers, who would come to the site to do estimates and maybe come to file later on
- allow for more exposure than just the filing period
- allow for your current customers to be able to estimate if they have any potential tax liability for the upcoming year
This may have been asked for before - and if so, I apologize. But I think it would be a great enhancement to your site. — Ken
PS — really love this site since I discovered it a couple of years ago. Keep up the good work!
Comments
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Hi pyz01,
I'm happy to hear that you like our site!
I don't believe this is currently in the works, but I am happy to pass this suggestion along to our developers.
For now, our software for the coming year usually gets released in November or December—you should get an email when this becomes available. Once it is released, you can log into your account for 2025 and enter your estimates to get an idea of what to expect when you file your 2025 tax return. Just remember to update your 2025 tax information to your actual forms and income before submitting that return next year.
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Calculating next year's estimated tax is done in TurboTax as part of the filing process. TurboTax then prints out your 4 coupons for the quarterly estimated payments when you are ready to file. I would highly recommend this as a new enhancement to FreeTax since it is a requirement from the IRS. How will I know what estimated taxes I need to pay using FreeTaxUSA? Once I file my taxes with FreeTax, do I need to fill out additional manual forms from the IRS to do this calculation?
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Hi kaphillips98,
As you prepare your tax return to be filed with FreeTaxUSA, you'll have the option to create the vouchers or coupons you're referring to that will apply for the following year.
For instance, say your federal balance due on your 2024 tax return was $2000. Typically, other retail software might automatically print out four coupons of four equal payments ($500 in this example) to pay quarterly in 2025.
These vouchers or coupons are 2025, Form 1040-ES forms. They're used for estimated payments you'd use once a quarter in calendar year 2025 with a payment to be applied to the 2025 tax return filed in 2026.
These payments may or may not end up being the correct tax due for 2025. However, when you pay 100% of the prior year's tax due in the current year, you'll avoid the underpayment penalty for estimated taxes. Read more here on that topic.
In FreeTaxUSA you have the option to create these vouchers before you file your tax return and can print them for your use. Here's how.
First, complete all sections for the federal tax return in FreeTaxUSA in the current year. Assuming you have a balance due that shows in red at the top of the screen, whatever the balance due is for the current year, the easiest method is to divide that amount by four.
Follow this menu path to create four coupons for estimated tax payments for the 2025 calendar year: Misc > Payments > 2025 Estimated Tax Payments.
On the screen 'Do you want to make 2025 estimated payments?' select Yes to the question, 'Do you want to make 2025 quarterly estimated tax payments (Form 1040-ES)?' Save and Continue.
On the screen 'How much do you want to pay?' You'll see the four quarters where you can enter the amount you want to pay for each quarter. Again, typically, retail software divides the payments into four equal payments throughout the year. But you'll enter the amount you want to pay each quarter and that can vary. Save and Continue. The next screen allows you to View, download and print out the vouchers.
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Hi kaphillips98,
We have submitted a request to add a feature like that to our future software. Thank you for your suggestion.
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I think future editions should have away for us to be able to enter such things next year life changes been working now going to retirement. OR spouse passes away and what are the impacts for next year.
To just print out 4 coupon notes from what we paid this year is no help
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I also request a next year tax estimator. I am trying to figure out 401K to Roth conversion amounts as a senior citizen and a tax estimator would be a very helpful feature for planning purposes. I have been a customer for years.
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Hi SpaceAdmiral and peachy,
Thank you for the suggestions. I would also recommend sending Support a support request from your account.1 -
Love this software. Like others I need to estimate upcoming year's taxes & continue to tweak the calculations as the year unfolds. We understand you don't have final changes to 2026 yet. But the tables and limits are set, and some tax law is locked in. Even if there was a big disclaimer saying 2026 Tax Estimator is only intended for helpful general planning. As official Tax updates occur this Estimator will be updated. But until IRS rules are final, Estimator software should not be relied upon for critical planning. Use a financial/tax planner for more reliable calculations & planning. *It's extremely helpful to be able to enter changes/options throughout the year to see the effects and plan accordingly before it's too late (tentatively). The same applies for state calcs that are a little complicated at times. Even using last years software with a different account name is helpful, knowing tax tables, deductions, contribution limits, etc are not accurate. Ideally an Current Year Estimator could just use last year's info with new limits/tables etc until further final rules are issued. Perhaps you could update it quarterly or something similar. For me, THIS is the most important tool I have for tax planning and revising all year. I'd even pay for such a version. Or perhaps a Beta trial might help. I don't think I need to pay an accountant/tax planner just to enter updated data when changes occur thru the year. It's just extremely helpful to get rough idea of expected taxes based on changes. TY!
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Here is one of my posts about Estimated Taxes.
I would also like the option for FTU to figure it out automatically like TurboTax does.As for using FTU to do a full 1040 estimate you can create a second account. See this
You can always log in to your 1040 account and talk to Support about to this.
Just another old post of mine.
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Please refer to an app that will download my bank deposits, total and then have path to import 4 times a year for est taxes to taxfreeusa🤩
Intuit has raised prices on me ... Am lookiing for alternative to QBSelfEmployed/TT
Thx
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ALSO, It would be helpful if I could do this 2026 Estimate (upcoming year) in my SAME account where I've already "used up" my single 2025 1040 Taxes Calculator per account. Currently, since there's no 2026 Calculator available here, I have to set up a "dummy" account in order to use 2025 FreeTaxUSA Calculator for the estimating 2026 taxes and keep revising my data/calcs until very late 2026 or 2027 when the new software is available. This also would be a HUGE help so I didn't have reenter name, age, demos, and all the other questions, just change amounts and new info. Like filing state taxes, FreeTaxUSA could just import all the info from my 2025 account. Thanks!
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GHTaxCurious, JLFTUFreeForumj, and s_h_guy, thank you all for taking the time to share your feedback and suggestions -- we really do appreciate it! It's great to hear from so many of you who are thinking ahead and want tools to help with year-round tax planning.
We've noted all of your suggestions, including the request for a next-year tax estimator, the ability to model life changes like retirement or a change in filing status, Roth conversion planning, and the option to use your existing account for forward-looking estimates without needing to set up a separate account. These are all great ideas and we'll be passing them along to our development team for consideration as we continue to improve and update our software.
We can't make any promises about specific features or timelines, but feedback like yours is genuinely valuable and helps shape where we focus our efforts.0 -
When will the initial version of 2026 version of Free Tax USA filing be available, and how will we know that happens?
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Probably.
Initial availability will not be until late November and then it will be updated all the way into mid January.
Someone from FTU will probably either confirm or update this info.
Here is Article from January 5, 2026 about tax year 2025.
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Hi Jim_B,
Thanks for the question. Currently we do not have a release date for the initial version. In the past 4-5 years, FreeTaxUSA has released the federal software in November, often in the first couple weeks. If you have an existing account, you will likely get an email from FreeTaxUSA.0
