what amount of tax should i be paying
1 Use your previous year's federal tax return as a check to make sure you include all the income and deductions you expect to take on your current year's tax return. 2  You should also look at the total tax you paid if you are going to base your estimated tax payments on 100 or 110 percent of your previous year's taxes.xample: You calculate that you need to pay $10,000 in estimated taxes throughout the year, and you don't make your first payment until June 15 (when the second estimate is due), so your first payment will be $5,000. Your September payment and your January payment will be $2,500 each.