LLC quarterly taxes, state by state.
An LLC's profit lands on the members' personal returns, and no employer is withholding anything on the way. So the IRS expects four estimated payments a year, on April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15. That half is national and does not move. The state half does: some states run their own estimated schedule, and some have no income tax to estimate. Pick yours.
Four things that decide the number.
Quarterly tax catches people out because it is not one obligation. It is a federal schedule that never changes, a state schedule that might not exist, and two taxes travelling together inside the same payment.
Form 1040-ES, four times
Profit from the LLC flows to your own return: Schedule C for a single member, a K-1 from Form 1065 for a multi-member. Because nobody is withholding on your behalf, the IRS expects it across four dates: April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15 of the following year.
Some states, not all
This is the half that changes. Some states run an estimated schedule alongside the federal one, on their own form and through their own agency. Others have no state income tax on that profit at all, so the federal payments are the entire story. Your state page says which of those two you are in.
Underpayment is the risk
Paying too little on any one of the four dates can trigger an underpayment penalty, calculated on the shortfall rather than announced in advance. Nobody sends a warning at the time. It is the reason estimating carefully across the year beats estimating optimistically and correcting in April.
Self-employment tax is in there
The quarterly number is not just income tax. Self-employment tax rides along inside the same payment, which is what makes the first year startling for anyone used to a paycheck where it was already handled. Setting the share aside as income arrives is easier than finding it four times a year.
Four dates, two governments. Only one of them is the same everywhere.
Pick your state.
Each state page covers whether that state runs its own estimated schedule, which form and which agency handle it, how it lines up against the federal dates, and what an LLC member there is actually paying across a full year.
The quarterly rhythm, in four moves.
The mechanics are the same wherever you are: estimate the year, size the tax on that estimate, cut it into four, and correct as the year moves. Only the state layer changes from one page to the next.
Estimate the year
Start from expected annual profit rather than last quarter's. The estimate is a full-year number; the payments are only that number divided up and handed over in stages.
Work out the tax
Income tax and self-employment tax together, on the full-year figure, before anything is divided. An S-corp election, if you have made one, changes the mechanics at this step.
Divide by four
Four payments on the federal dates through IRS Direct Pay or EFTPS, plus your state's own schedule if your state runs one. Two systems, one calendar.
Track and reconcile
Income moves, so the estimate moves with it. Revisit the number each quarter, then reconcile the four payments against the real result at year end.
The federal half is fixed. Your state page settles the other half.
The rest of Tax & registrations.
Every one of these is built the same way: a national explainer above its state pages. They are the filings that sit closest to this one.
EIN application
The EIN application, state by state
All 51 states → HubEIN
Getting an EIN, state by state
All 51 states → HubLLC tax rate
LLC tax rates, state by state
All 51 states → HubPayroll tax registration
Payroll tax registration, state by state
All 51 states → HubS-Corp election
The S-Corp election, state by state
All 51 states → HubS-Corp election
The S-Corp election, state by state
All 51 states → HubSales tax registration
Sales tax registration, state by state
All 51 states → HubUnemployment insurance registration
Unemployment insurance registration, state by state
All 51 states →The full index lives on Tax & registrations.
The questions owners ask before the first payment.
Does the LLC pay quarterly taxes, or do I?
You do, in most cases. Profit from an LLC flows through to the members' personal returns, Schedule C for a single member and a K-1 from Form 1065 for a multi-member, and the estimated payments are made by the individual rather than the company. The LLC is where the profit is earned. The return it lands on is yours.
What are the four federal dates?
April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15 of the following year, using Form 1040-ES. They are federal, so they are the same whichever state you are in, and they are not evenly spaced despite being called quarterly. Payments go through IRS Direct Pay or EFTPS. Your state's schedule, if it has one, is a separate thing to track.
Do I pay state estimated tax as well?
That depends entirely on your state. Some states run their own estimated schedule alongside the federal one, with their own form and their own agency to pay. Others have no state income tax reaching that profit, in which case the federal payments are the whole obligation. It is the single biggest difference between one state page here and the next.
What happens if I underpay?
Paying too little across the four dates can trigger an underpayment penalty, calculated on the shortfall. It is not announced in advance and it does not wait for the annual return to be filed before it starts accruing. The practical defence is to estimate off a realistic full-year figure and revisit that figure each quarter rather than once, in January, when nothing can be changed.
My income is unpredictable. How do I estimate?
The estimate is a full-year projection, and it is expected to be revised. Most people with uneven income re-run the number each quarter against what has actually landed, and set aside a share of income as it arrives rather than trying to find a large payment on a fixed date. The reconciliation at year end is what settles the difference either way.
Does an S-corp election change any of this?
It changes the mechanics rather than removing them. An S-corp election alters how profit is treated and how the owner is paid, which changes what the estimated calculation is built on. The four federal dates stay where they are. If you have made the election, the calculation step is where it shows up, and it is worth getting that step right before dividing anything.
Keep going, in order.
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