My Q3 estimated taxes seem way too high. My Q3 projected income is 16% less than Q4, but the Q3 estimated taxes are more than 2x those of Q4. Any ideas why?

I appreciate your time reaching out to us here, sachiko-higaki-g.

The data on your projected income would depend on the transactions that came in to your account and how they were categorized. When you create a projected income based on the transactions from last year, the numbers will be divided into 4 quarters. This means that every time an additional tax is added, the amount will be lessened for that quarter. 

You'll want to check this article for more details about the projection: How we calculate estimated tax payments.

I'm here if you have any follow-up questions about the taxes in QuickBooks Self-Employed. Take care and stay safe.

Thanks for getting back to me, but this appears to be a glitch in the quickbooks system. I used the automated assistant to ask how much my Q3 taxes would be, and it provided a number ~35% lower than what was showing up on the screen that displays all estimates quarterly taxes. That number looks right.

I was manually changing predicted income (because last year’s numbers are not going to be close to this year’s), and the error appeared immediately after. 

Hi there, sachiko-higaki-g.

I'd like to provide additional details on what to do to get this thing done.

Can you tell me more about the error you're getting? It would be best to provide the exact error message here. This way, we can easily figure out and share with you the best resolution for that kind of issue. 

We can start refreshing your browser by clicking the Reload icon or pressing F1 on your keyboard. If the error still appears, let's use a private browser to isolate the issue. Here's how to access QuickBooks in a private browser, choose depending on your browser:

• Google Chrome: Ctrl + Shift + N
• Microsoft Edge: Ctrl + Shift + P
• Firefox: Ctrl + Shift + P
• Safari: Command + Shift + N

If we're able to change the predicated income, delete browser cache to eliminate the saved information, which causing unexpected errors and be able to speed things up. Aside from that, we can use other compatible browsers in QBO since each of them uses a different cache storage folder on your computer. Here are they:

• Google Chrome.
• Mozilla Firefox. 
• Microsoft Edge.
• Safari 11 or newer (Mac only).

If the same thing happens, I would suggest contacting our specialist to investigate this matter. They'll use their appropriate tools to figure out the main reason why the Q3 estimated taxes is showing too high on your end.

Let me know how everything goes. We are all right here to help. Take care and stay safe.