Buddy, I am not a tax pro, but since you addressed your post to me I'll offer my thoughts---
Under many circumstances the best plan is to attain what is called 'Safe Haven' (or 'Safe Harbor') status by paying (with withholding and/or estimated qrtrly payments) the percentage of your last years tax that will make you safe from penalties. 'Safe Haven' is a based on your previous years tax due. Looking at the 1040ES/V(OCR) form I just got, (just scanning it quickly), it looks like for this year it will be 110% of yr2000 tax for AGI over $150k, 100% for AGI under $150k (correction from others welcome!)
In the situation your describe,
<<<"...Lets say I have a $10,000 short term realized gain this quarter and don't foresee any other gains this year, do I pay the whole 28%(my bracket) in April or do I spread it out over the quarters at certain percentages?...">>>
If you're sure you'll have no more gains, it would be possible to make your estimated payments in 4 equal chunks which covered the tax on the $10k, which would be OK with the IRS (I think).
---But the trouble with that is, imho, the phrase "...don't foresee any other gains..." .
If you take unexpected profits later in the year, or have any other unexpected income, you could run into a problem.
I'd go for 'Safe Haven' (with equal qrtrly payments that bring you to the appropriate percentage of previous years tax) or figure it qrtr by qrtr as you had to do for yr2000, bwdik?
Check out
fairmark.com
using the search feature on the message boards.
Lots of good tax info.
---d |
