How to Pay NY State Quarterly Taxes: Due Dates and Safe Harbors

If you earn New York income that isn’t subject to payroll withholding, you generally owe NY state quarterly taxes on four dates during the year: April 15, June 15, September 15, and the following January 15. Pay enough at each due date to hit one of the state’s safe harbor thresholds and you avoid the underpayment penalty, even if your final bill turns out higher than expected.

Who Has to Pay

You must make estimated payments if you expect to owe $300 or more in New York State income tax after subtracting your withholding and credits. Separate $300 thresholds apply to New York City and Yonkers residents, so city tax can trigger the requirement on its own.¹

The income sources that typically create this obligation are freelance and contract work, sole proprietorships, partnership and S corporation distributions, interest, dividends, capital gains, and rental income.² Non-residents with New York-source income are subject to the same rule.

Two boundary items to know. Self-employed individuals working in the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District (the five boroughs plus Dutchess, Nassau, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk, and Westchester counties) may also owe the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Mobility Tax on net self-employment earnings, calculated on the same Form IT-2105 worksheet.² And if you’re a nonresident partner or S corporation shareholder, your entity may be paying estimated tax on your behalf using Form IT-2658, which is a separate filing done at the entity level.³

The Four Due Dates

New York follows the same quarterly calendar as the IRS. For tax year 2026, the installments are due:⁴

1st installment: April 15, 2026
2nd installment: June 15, 2026
3rd installment: September 15, 2026
4th installment: January 15, 2027

When a due date falls on a weekend or legal holiday, it shifts to the next business day. You can also pay the entire year’s estimated tax with your April installment if you’d rather be done with it.

Farmers and fishermen get a separate schedule. If at least two-thirds of your New York adjusted gross income comes from farming or fishing, one payment on January 15 of the following year is enough, and filing your return with full payment by March 1 lets you skip the estimated payment entirely.⁵

How Much to Pay Each Quarter

Your quarterly amount is one-quarter of your projected annual liability, and the projection needs to hit one of three safe harbors to keep you out of penalty territory. The worksheet in the Form IT-2105 instructions walks through the math.⁶

Safe Harbor Thresholds

Your total payments plus withholding for the year must equal at least one of the following:

90% of your current-year tax
100% of your prior-year tax
110% of your prior-year tax if your prior-year New York adjusted gross income exceeded $150,000, or $75,000 if you’re married filing separately for the current year⁶

The prior-year method is the safest because it requires no guesswork. Take last year’s tax bill, divide by four, and you’re protected regardless of what happens with this year’s income. The 90%-of-current-year method can produce smaller payments if your income drops, but a bad projection means a penalty.

When Your Income Is Uneven

If your earnings cluster in certain months, equal quarterly installments can force you to overpay early. The annualized income installment method recalculates each quarter’s required payment based on what you’ve actually earned through that period. A consultant who books most fees in the fourth quarter would owe smaller April and June installments and larger September and January ones. You compute this on the Form IT-2105.9 worksheet, and you have to apply it to all four installments if you use it for any of them.⁷

Adjusting Mid-Year

If a big client shows up in July or a revenue stream disappears in August, redo the IT-2105 worksheet and adjust your September and January payments. Overpaying earlier in the year cushions later shortfalls. Underpaying earlier can be partly fixed by paying more later, but the penalty is calculated per installment period, so catching up doesn’t erase what already accrued on the earlier quarters.

How to Send the Payment

The quickest route is your New York State Online Services account at tax.ny.gov. Under the Services menu, choose “Payments, bills and notices” and then “Make a payment.” Direct debit from a checking or savings account is free, your bank information can be saved, and you can schedule all four installments in advance.⁸

Credit card payments run through the same portal or through third-party providers, with a 2.20% convenience fee on top of the tax.⁹ On a $5,000 installment that’s $110, so unless rewards offset the cost, bank transfer wins.

Paper is still an option. Complete Form IT-2105, make the check payable to “NYS Income Tax,” write the last four digits of your Social Security number and the tax year on it, and mail both to the Binghamton processing center listed on the voucher. The form has separate line entries for New York State, New York City, Yonkers, and MCTMT amounts.⁸

What Happens If You Underpay

Missing an installment or paying too little triggers a penalty even when your annual return shows a refund. It’s calculated on the shortfall for each installment period, based on the number of days between the due date and the date you actually paid, so it behaves like interest rather than a flat fine.¹⁰

The rate is the federal short-term interest rate plus 5.5 percentage points, with a 7.5% floor. For the period through April 15, 2026, the rate is 9.5%.¹¹ You compute the penalty yourself on Form IT-2105.9 and file it with your annual return. If your total tax after withholding and credits is under $300, no penalty applies.⁷

Getting the Penalty Waived

The Department will waive the penalty in two situations. The first is a casualty, disaster, or other unusual circumstance where charging the penalty would be inequitable. The second is retirement after age 62 or becoming disabled during the tax year or the prior year, provided the underpayment resulted from reasonable cause rather than intentional neglect.¹² Either request needs documentation submitted to the Department of Taxation and Finance.

One Note on Your Federal Return

If you itemize federally, state estimated payments you make during the calendar year count toward your state and local tax deduction on Schedule A. The SALT deduction is currently capped at $40,000 for most filers, or $20,000 if married filing separately, with a phase-down starting at $500,000 of modified adjusted gross income ($250,000 if married filing separately).¹³ If your withholding already puts you at the cap, accelerating a state payment into December won’t generate extra federal savings. Worth checking before you time a year-end installment.

1
Tax.NY.gov. Who Must Make Estimated Tax Payments
2
Department of Taxation and Finance. Estimated Taxes
3
Tax.NY.gov. Instructions for Form IT-2658 Report of Estimated Tax for Nonresident Individual Partners and Shareholders
4
Tax.NY.gov. Estimated Tax Payment Due Dates
5
New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. New York State Tax Reform and Reduction Act – Estimated Tax Provisions
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New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Instructions for Form IT-2105 Estimated Income Tax Payment Voucher for Individuals
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New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Instructions for Form IT-2105.9 Underpayment of Estimated Income Tax by Individuals and Fiduciaries
8
Department of Taxation and Finance. Make an Estimated Income Tax Payment
9
Tax.NY.gov. Credit and Debit Card Payment Information
10
Cornell Law School. New York Comp Codes R and Regs Tit 20 185.3 – Failure to Pay Estimated Tax
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Tax.NY.gov. Interest Rates 1/01/2026 – 3/31/2026
12
Cornell Law School. New York Comp Codes R and Regs Tit 20 185.4 – Exceptions to Addition to Tax for Failure to Pay Estimated Tax
13
Internal Revenue Service. How to Update Withholding to Account for Tax Law Changes for 2025