I am confused with respect to making estimated tax payments. I am a small business involved in the retail business and my business income fluctuates a lot especially towards year-end. It is very difficult to determine with precision how much profits I will make and therefore, how do I make my estimated tax payments not knowing in advance what my true liability is going to be??

Thanks so much in advance for your answer!!!

If a taxpayer owed “additional federal income taxes” upon the filing of his or her 2008 individual income tax return, then that taxpayer may be required to pay estimated tax payments for 2009. Generally speaking, a taxpayer must make an estimated tax payment for 2009if both of the following conditions apply as shown below;

1)The Taxpayer expects to owe at least $1,000 in tax for 2009, that is after subtracting the federal income tax withholding and credits from the expected 2009 Tax Liability.

2)The Taxpayer expects that the federal income tax withholding and credits to be less than the smaller of:
......(i) 90% of the tax to be shown on his or her 2009 tax return, or
......(ii)100% of the tax shown on the taxpayer’s 2008 tax return.

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