Internal Revenue Service United States Department of the Treasury
Level Basic Advanced Military International

Payments Workout

Amounts Applied from Previous Year

Case Study 1: Estimated taxes

Let's see how our volunteer helped a taxpayer, Ernie, with the Payments section.

Click here for an explanation.

Sample Interview
Volunteer says:   Ernie responds:
 
The software added up all the income tax withheld from your Forms W-2 we entered earlier. I know you had a little self-employment income and I see you responded "yes" to the question on estimated tax payments on the intake and interview sheet. Is that correct? Yes, I did.
 
Do you have a record of your payments, perhaps on a Form 1040-ES? Yeah, here it is.
 
Good, you paid each quarter. We'll enter those payments. While we're here, did last year's return show an overpayment? Yes, here it is: $150.
 
Did you apply any of that overpayment to this year's tax return? Yes, all of it.
 
Okay, we'll enter that too. Now we show the total of the withholding from your Forms W-2, your estimated tax paid and the refund amount from last year's return applied to this year. Good!