1020 es and 1040 es… who needs to file??

1120-W is the Corporation estimated tax form; 1040-ES is the individual estimated tax form. 1040-ES is generally filed by individuals whose income is not subject to regular income tax withholding. A common example would be independent contractors. Taxes should generally be paid on income as it is earned, so W-2 employees have income tax withheld every paycheck to take care of that obligation. Independent contractors generally will not have income tax withheld on their behalf, so they will make estimated tax payments every quarter to cover their tax liability.

Tax withholding I believe is referring to income taxes (both federal and, if applicable, state/local) held back from your gross paycheck and sent off by your employer to the appropriate taxing authorities. For example, say you work 20 hours one week at $10/hour, your gross paycheck would be $200. Out of that $200, your employer will keep a portion to pay for your FICA liability, as well as a portion to cover your federal and state income tax liability. The federal/state portion is considered “income tax withholding.” After the end of the year, you will file your income tax return, calculate your tax liability, and apply your income tax withholding from the year against that liability. If too much was withheld, you'll receive a refund. If not enough was withheld, you'll write a check to the IRS and/or state.

Hopefully that helps. 🙂

Also to add to that, if you only work for one employer, they should know that your MAX Social Security tax(1 of the 2 components of FICA) that should be withheld for any person is 6.2% of your first $117K; so if any individual employer withholds more than that, they owe you money back, not the IRS. IRS refunds stem from any excess withholding other than that.

Obviously if you have two jobs, the employers have no idea what's being withheld from your other job, so in that case your TOTAL SStax withheld may be more than 6.2% of $117K and the IRS will refund you. Still, if one of em alone withholds more than the MAX<–apply same rule as above.

.

Sorta like labor laws: max hours a boss can you work you are 60hrs/week; but that doesn't stop you from getting 2 60hr jobs. Not the employers' duty to make sure you work a total below 60, but it is their duty to make sure they don't specifically work you more than 60.

.

Your W-2(form that you+IRS get from employer after January and before 4/15) summarizes your total wages, state taxes withheld, federal taxes withheld, FICA taxes withheld($$ for SS tax, $$ for Medicare). Let's ya know all the math, so you can just compare numbers to make sure no errors. Definitely take a look at one of these. It's usually the first step in preparing your own return, unless you don't have a “boss”. <–Contractors, business owners, etc. (nobody to do those W-2s)

Employer provides W2s to you because it allows you to start your filing. They provide it to IRS so bigbrother can verify not only your numbers, but also the employers'. Two birds, one stone.