How to pay estimated taxes online in 2026, step by step

You can pay your quarterly estimated tax online for free, straight from a checking or savings account. There are two free ways to do it: IRS Direct Pay, which needs no sign-in, and your IRS Online Account, which lets you schedule the whole year at once. A debit or credit card works too, but a company outside the IRS charges you a fee. Here's how each one works for 2026, and which to pick.

The four ways to pay, side by side

Way to pay	What it costs	Sign-in	Best for
IRS Direct Pay	Free	None	A quick one-off payment
IRS Online Account	Free	Yes, with photo ID the first time	Scheduling all four payments and seeing what you've paid
Debit or credit card	About $2 on debit, 1.75% to 1.85% on credit	None	Card rewards, if they beat the fee
Check by mail	A stamp	None	When you can't pay online

For most people, Direct Pay is the fastest way to make a payment today, and the Online Account is the better home if you want to set up the year and forget about it.

How to pay with IRS Direct Pay

Direct Pay moves money from a U.S. checking or savings account to the IRS. There's no account to create and no password. Here's the whole process:

1. Go to irs.gov/payments. Under Pay as guest, choose Direct Pay, then Pay individual tax and Make a payment.
2. For the reason, choose Estimated tax, apply it to 1040ES, and choose 2026 as the tax year. Use 2026 for all four payments, including the one due January 15, 2027.
3. Verify who you are. Direct Pay checks you against one of your past tax returns, usually last year's. Enter your name, address and Social Security number exactly as they appear on that return. The year you verify with doesn't have to match the year you're paying for.
4. Enter the amount, your bank's routing number and your account number, and the date you want the money taken. You can choose any date up to 365 days ahead.
5. Review it, sign it, and ask for the confirmation by email. Save the confirmation number. Direct Pay can't find it for you later, and you need it to change or cancel the payment.

A few things the IRS says about Direct Pay:

• You can't use it if you've never filed a federal return, or if you're paying on your first one, because there's no past return to check you against. Use your Online Account, a card or a check instead.
• You can make up to five payments in 24 hours.
• It handles one payment at a time. There's no recurring option, so schedule each quarter separately. If you asked for email confirmation, the IRS emails you a reminder two days before each scheduled payment.
• To change or cancel a scheduled payment, use Look Up a Payment with your confirmation number, up to two business days before the payment date.

How to pay through your IRS Online Account

Your Online Account is at irs.gov/account. Payments come from your bank account and are free, the same as Direct Pay, but you also get:

• Scheduling up to 365 days ahead, so you can set up the rest of the year's payments in one sitting.
• Your payment history, including your estimated payments, going back up to five years. That's useful at tax time, when you need the year's total for your return.
• Saved bank details, so you don't type them in each time.
• Cancelling a scheduled payment any time before its date.

The first time you sign in, you create an account and verify your identity. The IRS says to have your photo ID ready. It takes longer than Direct Pay the first time, so don't leave it until the evening a payment is due.

Paying by debit or credit card

The IRS doesn't take cards itself. Two approved processors do, and they charge a fee that goes to them, not the IRS. These are the fees on the IRS card page as of October 2026:

Processor	Debit card	Credit card
Pay1040	$2.15	1.75% ($2.50 minimum)
ACI Payments	$2.10	1.85% ($2.50 minimum)

Both also take PayPal, and ACI takes Venmo. You don't need a payment voucher when you pay by card, and to cancel a card payment you contact the processor, not the IRS.

A debit card costs about $2 a payment, which is small. A credit card adds up. On a $2,000 quarterly payment, the fee is $35 with Pay1040 or $37 with ACI, so $140 or more a year across four payments. That's only worth it if your card's rewards are worth more than about 1.75%.

Paying by check

The IRS asks people to pay online whenever they can, but a check still works. To get it credited properly:

• Make it payable to "United States Treasury".
• Write "2026 Form 1040-ES" and your Social Security number on the check.
• Send it with the matching payment voucher from Form 1040-ES, and don't staple the check to it.
• Mail it to the address for your state in the Form 1040-ES instructions.

A check counts as paid on its postmark date, but the 2026 instructions warn that the postmark is now the date the Postal Service processes it at a facility, which may be later than the day you drop it in a mailbox. Mail it several days before the due date, or pay online. The IRS says to allow two weeks for it to receive and process a check.

What happened to EFTPS?

The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System used to be the usual way to schedule all four payments. The IRS no longer accepts new EFTPS enrollments from individual taxpayers. If you already have an EFTPS login, you can keep using it for now. Everyone else should use their Online Account, which does the same job.

Timing on the due date

Both Direct Pay and the Online Account credit your payment for the date you choose, even if the money leaves your bank a day or two later. Two catches:

• Both systems are offline every night from 11:45 p.m. to midnight Eastern.
• A same-day payment sent after 8 p.m. Eastern usually shows in your IRS account as if it was made the next business day.

Paying a day or two early avoids both. The 2026 due dates are April 15, June 15 and September 15, 2026, and January 15, 2027. The due dates guide explains which months each one covers.

Check that it went through

Your confirmation number only means the IRS has your request. It doesn't prove the money moved. If there isn't enough in the account, the payment is returned and you'd have to pay again, possibly with a penalty. Two business days after the payment date, check your bank statement or your Online Account. If it still says "Pending", the IRS suggests checking again three business days later.

How much to pay

Paying the same amount on each date is the simple way to do it. To stay clear of the underpayment penalty, your four payments need to add up to the smaller of 90% of your 2026 tax or 100% of your 2025 tax (110% if your 2025 adjusted gross income was over $150,000). That's the safe harbor rule. If you're not sure what your tax will be, how much to set aside walks through it, and the free 1099 tax calculator works out the next payment for you.

Keep it simple

The Paid & Filed workbook tells you what to pay before each due date. Paste in your bank CSV, your rules sort each line onto its Schedule C line, and the Quarterly tab works out your 2026 tax, compares the safe-harbor options and shows how much to pay by the next date. All that's left is five minutes on Direct Pay.