Massachusetts Form 355-ES is the voucher a corporation uses to make quarterly estimated excise tax payments to the Department of Revenue. If your corporation reasonably expects to owe more than $1,000 in corporate excise for the year, you must pay in installments through MassTaxConnect or approved tax software, and those payments are credited against the final liability on your annual corporate excise return.1Mass.gov. AP 331: Corporate Estimated Tax Payments
Who Has to File
The requirement applies to domestic and foreign business corporations, S corporations, and financial institutions that do business in Massachusetts or derive income from Massachusetts sources. The trigger is a single number: an expected total excise above $1,000 for the taxable year. At or below that figure, you skip 355-ES entirely and settle up when you file the annual return.1Mass.gov. AP 331: Corporate Estimated Tax Payments
One thing to watch: the $1,000 threshold is based on your total excise, not just the income piece. Massachusetts corporate excise has two components, a tax on net income and a tax measured by either tangible property or net worth, and both feed the estimate. A corporation with modest income but significant Massachusetts property can still cross the line.
What to Gather Before You File
Have these in front of you before you open MassTaxConnect or the worksheet:
- Your Federal Employer Identification Number, matching what the DOR has on file.
- Your prior-year corporate excise return (Form 355 or 355S). It gives you a baseline for projecting current-year liability and tells you whether you qualify for the prior-year safe harbor.
- Current-year projections of net income, apportionment percentage if you file in multiple states, and the value of Massachusetts tangible property or net worth depending on your classification.
The 355-ES instructions include a worksheet that walks the estimated tax calculation through step by step. Pull it from the DOR site or from your filing software before you enter numbers.2Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Form 355-ES Corporation Estimated Excise Payment Instructions and Worksheet
Due Dates and the 40/25/25/10 Split
Massachusetts breaks estimated corporate excise into four installments, but not into equal quarters. The schedule is front-loaded:
- First installment: 40% of estimated annual excise
- Second installment: 25%
- Third installment: 25%
- Fourth installment: 10%
For calendar-year corporations, the 2026 due dates are March 16, June 15, September 15, and December 15. The first shifts one day because March 15 falls on a Sunday.3Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Massachusetts DOR Corporate Excise Tax Estimated Payments Fiscal-year filers pay on the 15th day of the 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th months of their fiscal period.2Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Form 355-ES Corporation Estimated Excise Payment Instructions and Worksheet
You can also pay the entire estimated excise with the first installment instead of spreading it across four.2Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Form 355-ES Corporation Estimated Excise Payment Instructions and Worksheet
Small Corporations in Their First Year
A corporation with fewer than ten employees throughout its entire first 12-month taxable year uses a gentler split: 30%, 25%, 25%, and 20%.1Mass.gov. AP 331: Corporate Estimated Tax Payments If a first-year small corporation doesn’t realize it will exceed the $1,000 threshold until later in the year, the number of required installments compresses and the percentages adjust accordingly.4Cornell Law School. 830 CMR 63B.2.2 – Payments of Estimated Corporate Excise
How to Submit the Voucher and Pay
All Massachusetts corporate tax filings and payments must be electronic. Paper 355-ES vouchers will not be processed.5Massachusetts Department of Revenue. DOR E-filing and Payment Requirements Two channels are available:
- MassTaxConnect. Log into your corporate account, select the estimated payment option, choose the voucher number (1 through 4), and authorize payment.
- Approved third-party tax software, which can transmit 355-ES directly to the DOR.3Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Massachusetts DOR Corporate Excise Tax Estimated Payments
The default payment method on MassTaxConnect is an ACH debit from a linked bank account, with no fee. Credit and debit cards are accepted, but the DOR’s payment processor charges 2.39% for credit and 2.09% for debit.6Mass.gov. Making Payments in MassTaxConnect On a $10,000 installment, the credit card surcharge alone runs $239.
Once the payment posts, you get a confirmation number. Save it. The payment also shows up in your MassTaxConnect account history, where you can track cumulative estimated credits across the year.
Safe Harbors That Prevent an Underpayment Penalty
If your installments fall short of what you actually owe, the DOR adds an interest-style charge to the underpayment, calculated on Form M-2220 filed with your annual return.1Mass.gov. AP 331: Corporate Estimated Tax Payments You avoid the charge if your payments meet any one of these safe harbors by each installment due date:
- 90% of the tax shown on the current-year return.
- 100% of the tax on the prior-year return, provided that return covered a full 12 months. This safe harbor is not available to large corporations under IRC ยง6655(g)(2) or to first-year filers.
- 90% of current-year tax computed using the prior-year apportionment percentage, useful for multistate filers whose income shifts more than their geographic footprint.
The 100% prior-year option is the one most corporations use because it removes the guesswork. If last year was a low-revenue year and this year is a growth year, though, matching last year’s number can leave you significantly underpaid, and the penalty accrues from each installment date. When in doubt, estimate on the high side. Overpayments either carry forward as credits or come back as a refund.2Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Form 355-ES Corporation Estimated Excise Payment Instructions and Worksheet
Adjusting the Estimate as the Year Goes On
You are not locked into whatever number you put on the first voucher. The 355-ES worksheet is designed to be re-run each quarter. Plug in updated projections, recalculate the total annual estimate, subtract what you have already paid, and spread the remainder across the installments still ahead of you.
If your revised estimate drops below $1,000, the requirement to keep making estimated payments falls away. If revenue picks up and pushes you over the threshold for the first time mid-year, start with the next available installment and load enough into the remaining windows to cover the expected annual liability.