Estimates and business taxes

Payroll and sales tax are taxes you collect and pass on. Income tax is tax on your business’s profit. In the US it is paid during the year in four instalments called estimated tax payments, and then settled on a yearly income tax return. This page covers the Tax Estimate page, how to plan and record estimated payments, and what Bokapsys does for the yearly returns.

Before you start

You can see Tax → Compliance and its Estimate tab. What you see depends on your role; see Team and roles.
Your books for the year are up to date: statements mapped and posted, invoices and bills entered. The estimate is only as good as the books. See Financial reports.
Your Business structure is set on your taxpayer under Tax → Tax Setup → Taxpayers (for example Sole proprietorship, Partnership, S corporation or C corporation). It decides how the estimate is worked out. If it isn’t set, Bokapsys uses your Company Type from Company settings, but a plain “Corporation” or “LLC” there isn’t enough to tell which rules apply. See Tax setup.
Last year’s tax return is to hand if you want to compare.

Which taxes are which

Your business	How income tax works	Estimated payments
Sole proprietor, or a single-owner LLC taxed like one	Profit is reported on the owner’s personal return (Form 1040 with Schedule C). The owner also pays self-employment tax, the Social Security and Medicare tax for people who work for themselves	Made by the owner, personally, with Form 1040-ES
Partnership (Form 1065)	The business files a return but pays no income tax itself. Profit passes through to the partners’ personal returns, and partners usually pay self-employment tax on their share	Made by each partner personally. A partnership does not make estimated payments as a business
S corporation (Form 1120-S)	The business files a return but usually pays no federal income tax itself. Profit passes through to the owners’ personal returns	Made by each owner personally
C corporation (Form 1120)	The company pays income tax itself	Made by the company

Use the Tax Estimate page

Go to Tax → Compliance and open the Estimate tab. The page is called Tax Estimate.
Choose the Year (this year or the two before) and the Period: Whole year or a quarter (Q1 to Q4).
The cards fill in. Click Refresh after you change your books to recalculate.
Read the Business income card first (explained below), then the other cards.

The cards

Card	What it shows
Business income	A badge with your business structure, the dates covered, and your profit from your posted books, the same figures as the Income Statement: Revenue (posted), Cost of goods sold, Gross profit, Operating expenses, Other income, Other expenses, Net income. Then the federal tax figure for your kind of business (below)
Quarterly payments	Required each quarter, Paid so far this year, Still to pay through Q… (or for the year), and a table of the four payments with their due dates and amounts. Not shown when there is no tax at the business level
Sales tax collected	Tax charged on invoices in the period, less credit notes, by customer state. See Sales tax
1099-NEC candidates	Contractors marked for a 1099 and what you paid them this calendar year, with Needs a 1099 (Yes, or Below the limit under $2,000). See Contractor 1099s
Payroll tax	Pay runs in the period, Gross wages, Tax withheld from employees and Employer tax
Overdue filings	Shown only when a filing for the year is past its due date, with Open filings
How this is worked out	Notes on how the figures were worked out for your business

How the estimate is worked out

Net income comes from your Income Statement for the period, so it matches Financial reports. If you chose a quarter, the year so far is projected to twelve months (shown as Income for the full year), which is how the IRS annualised method works. The tax figure then depends on your business structure:

Business structure (badge)	Tax figure shown
C corporation	Federal corporate income tax at 21% of profit. Any federal income tax already booked as an expense is added back first (Federal income tax added back), because it isn’t deductible. The year and payment dates follow your fiscal year
S corporation	No federal tax at the business level: the owners pay tax on the profit on their own returns. No quarterly payments are shown
Sole proprietor or Partnership	Self-employment tax (income tax not included): 15.3% of 92.35% of the profit, with the 12.4% social security part stopping at the yearly wage limit ($184,500 for 2026). Nothing is due below $400 of self-employment earnings. The owner’s income tax depends on their whole personal return and is not included
Business structure not set	Worked out as for a sole proprietor, with a Set it in Tax Setup link
Not estimated for this kind of organization	A non-profit, trust, estate or government body. Each follows its own rules, so nothing is estimated

Quarterly payments follow the IRS safe harbor. For self-employment tax, that is 90% of this year’s tax, or 100% of last year’s (110% if your income was over $150,000) when that is lower, split into four, due 15 April, 15 June, 15 September and 15 January of the next year. For a C corporation it is the smaller of this year’s and last year’s tax, split into four, due on the 15th of the 4th, 6th, 9th and 12th months of your fiscal year. All dates move off weekends and holidays. If last year’s tax is not on file in Bokapsys, the payment is based on this year only, and a note says so.

Paid so far this year counts the estimated tax payments you have recorded in Tax Payments for this tax year. A payment counts toward the instalment it was scheduled for, so a payment scheduled in January for the previous year’s fourth instalment counts toward the previous year.

Worked example

Whole year, 2026, Business structure Single-member LLC (estimated as a sole proprietor). The Income Statement shows revenue $180,000, cost of goods sold $30,000 and operating expenses $90,000.

Line	Amount
Revenue (posted)	$180,000.00
Cost of goods sold	$30,000.00
Gross profit	$150,000.00
Operating expenses	$90,000.00
Net income	$60,000.00
Self-employment tax: 15.3% of $55,410.00 (92.35% of $60,000)	$8,477.73

With no prior-year tax on file, Required each quarter is 90% of $8,477.73 split into four, about $1,907.48. With Business structure C corporation, the same books give Federal corporate income tax of $12,600.00 (21%).

Plan and record an estimated payment

Bokapsys doesn’t build a Form 1040-ES voucher. You pay estimated tax directly to the IRS, then record it in Bokapsys so your records and the Paid so far this year figure show it.

Decide the amount with your accountant, using the estimate as a starting point.
Pay it on the IRS website. For an owner’s personal estimate, IRS Direct Pay (irs.gov/payments/direct-pay) takes a payment from a bank account with no enrolment: choose Estimated Tax and the right year. A corporation paying its own estimate uses EFTPS (eftps.gov).
Keep the confirmation number.
In Bokapsys, go to Tax → Tax Payments and click Schedule payment.
Choose Paid to: Something else, then What it is for: Quarterly estimated tax (an owner’s estimate) or Corporate estimated tax (a C corporation). Choose How you will pay, enter the Amount and Date you plan to pay, and click Schedule.
On the new row, click Record payment, enter the Date paid and the Confirmation number, and click Record payment.

Field	What it means	Required	Example
Paid to	Who the money went to	Yes	Something else
What it is for	What the payment is for	Yes	Quarterly estimated tax
How you will pay	EFTPS, State website, Bank transfer (ACH), Check, Wire or Card	Yes	Bank transfer (ACH)
Amount	The amount you paid, in dollars	Yes	1907.48
Date you plan to pay	The date you plan to pay, or paid	Yes	2026-09-15
Confirmation number (when recording)	The number the IRS gave you	Yes	the Direct Pay confirmation number

A recorded estimated payment is posted to your books as tax paid in advance, not as an expense. See Tax payments.

Business and personal income tax returns

Tax → Filings has a Business Income tab for Forms 1120, 1120-S, 1065, Schedule K-1 and state business income returns. Bokapsys doesn’t prepare these returns. It gives you, or your accountant, the figures to prepare one, and keeps a record of each one once it is filed.

To get your yearly return done:

Close off the year in your books: reconcile every bank account (Reconciliation) and post any year-end adjustments.
On the Business Income tab, click Open Book to tax under Start from your books (or open Tax → Compliance → Book to Tax) and choose the year. Check the badge reads Books balance. See Book to tax.
Give the pack and your financial reports to whoever prepares your return. If they use Bokapsys, they can work in your workspace; see My accountant.
Once the return is filed, click Record a filed return on the Business Income tab and enter the return, year, how and when it was filed, and the tax on it. See Filing a return.
Record any balance you pay with the return in Tax → Tax Payments, with What it is for set to Balance due on a return or Corporate balance due.

Common problems

What you see	What it means	What to do
Net income is zero or far lower than expected	Statements are unmapped or unposted, so they aren’t in the books yet	Finish Mapping statements and post, then Refresh
The badge says Business structure not set	Neither your taxpayer’s business structure nor your company type says clearly what kind of business you are	Set Business structure on your taxpayer in Tax Setup
Couldn’t work out the estimate	The figures could not be built; the message says why, for example that the social security wage limit for that year is not held yet	Choose another year, check your books load in Financial reports, then try again

Book to taxThe year-end pack for your accountant.

Tax paymentsSchedule and record payments.

Financial reportsThe Income Statement behind the estimate.

AI Tax AssistantAsk questions about your tax figures.