I paid the full QB quarterly tax estimate for Q4, but a portion of that payment was applied to the next year's Q1, leaving me short on Q4 by the difference. Why?

Welcome to the Community, @cscott1976.

That specific portion of the payment may be assigned to the Q1, causing the Q4 to be short. If that's the case, here's how to change it to the correct one:

1. In QuickBooks Self-Employed (QBSE), go to the Taxes menu at the left pane to get to the Quarterly Taxes page.
2. Select the quarter you want to mark the tax payment for. 
3. Click the Don't see your payment? Find your estimated tax payments. 
4. Check off the tax payment and select Mark as tax payment.

For further guidance, consider checking out this article: Pay Federal Estimated Quarterly Taxes.

Just in case, I'll add these articles for future reference:

• How we calculate estimated tax payments.
• Estimated taxes explained.

Please let me know if you have any other concerns, and I'll get back to you right away. I'm always here to assist. Have a great day!

I'm not sure what to do after Step 2. For example purposes, let's say the estimated Q4 taxes are $100. When I expand the Q4 section, I see the payment made to the IRS for $100, and next to that, in a smaller font and light gray text, it says $80 applied to Q4. I don't seem to have any way of interacting with the Q4 section to make any changes to this allocation.

I'd like to be able to fix this so the entire estimated Q4 tax appears as paid for Q4, without a portion of it being rolled into the next year's Q1 tax payments. I'd also like to understand why this happens in the first place. If QB tells me I need to pay $100 in taxes for Q4 and I pay $100 in taxes for Q4, I don't like the idea of it deciding to allocate those dollars in a manner that seems arbitrary to me.

Hello there, @cscott1976. I'm going to provide you with more information on Estimated Quarterly Taxes in QuickBooks Self-Employed.

The payment you made should reflect in your account as pending until it clears from your bank. Your payment is processed immediately after you submit it electronically, but it may take five to seven days for the payment to post to your history log. Depending on your bank, it may be immediately or up to two to three days for the payment to reflect. 

Here are some articles that will provide additional information:

• Pay Federal Estimated Quarterly Taxes
• Self-Employment Taxes
• Manage taxes and forms with QuickBooks Self-Employed

I recommend reaching out to QuickBooks Self-Employed Support if you still need assistance. They have tools that can help locate any errors and correct tax payments.

I'm here to lend a helping hand if you need any more help. Have a nice day.