Four times a year the IRS and the state expect a payment. We work out what yours should be from your actual results, not a percentage someone pulled out of the air.
Most owners find out their estimates were wrong in the spring, when the return gets filed and the number is either a nasty surprise or a refund that sat with the government all year doing nothing. Both are avoidable. The fix is looking at real profit every quarter and adjusting the payment to match.
That's what this service is. Each quarter We close your books, look at where profit actually landed against where you thought it would land, and calculate what should go to the IRS and to Kentucky. You get a number, a due window, and a one-paragraph explanation of why it moved. If the business had a monster quarter, you find out in time to set the cash aside instead of scrambling for it later.
The math itself is simple once the books are right, which is the catch. If your December close is the first time anyone reconciles the year, then every estimate in between was a guess. We close monthly, so by the time a quarter ends the profit number is already trustworthy. From there it's a matter of applying the right rates, accounting for what's already been paid in, factoring in any big swings you see coming, and giving you a figure with enough lead time to actually move the money. No drama, no April surprise about a five-figure balance.
Straight answer on scope, because it matters here more than anywhere. Justin Baum is not a CPA and not an enrolled agent, and Baum's Accounting Services does not prepare or file income tax returns of any kind. What happens here is the cash-flow side of the obligation: knowing the number, timing it, and having the books to back it up. The return itself goes to an outside CPA firm, and they will thank you for showing up with a closed year and a record of every estimate that was paid.
Businesses with lumpy revenue, mostly. Construction outfits that bill three big draws in one quarter and almost nothing in the next. Healthcare practices where a payer change swings collections. Retailers whose whole year rides on a season. Anyone using a flat percentage of last year's income tends to be off in more than one quarter, and being wrong in the wrong direction costs real money. Book a consultation and bring last year's return. Fifteen minutes with it usually shows whether your current estimates are anywhere close.
Because the estimate comes from your books, not from a return. We close the month, see actual profit, apply your rates and entity structure, and subtract what's already been paid. Your outside CPA firm sets the tax position and files the return. We make sure the numbers feeding it are right and the money goes out on schedule.
You can, and plenty of owners do, but underpayment penalties and interest can apply, and they get harder to absorb once the balance is large. Catching up also tends to land in a month where cash is already tight. It's easier to move a known amount four times than to find a big one at the end.
Yes. Kentucky expects its own payments and the calculation runs alongside the federal one. If you operate in more than one state, that gets factored in too, though the actual return filings still go to your outside CPA firm. The point is that you see one clear number per quarter rather than piecing it together yourself.
Other work in this area that tends to come up in the same conversation.
Book a consultation. Half an hour is usually enough to know whether this is a fit.
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