With the recent mandate for income tax payments to be made electronically, we would like to provide a brief guide on how to submit those payments for both the IRS & Pennsylvania. Although not mandatory, we strongly encourage our clients to set up online accounts for the IRS and PA, respectively. Such accounts can be used to quickly access payment history, as well as to modify scheduled estimates.
This guide will include instructions on setting up those accounts, as well as making balance due & estimated tax payments with AND without having an account set up.
We will start by reviewing instructions to make Federal tax payments:
| To set up an IRS account click on this link. On the ensuing web page, click on “Sign in or create account” and follow the prompts. Note you will need a photo ID handy if setting up a new account. |  |
| Once an account is set up and you are logged in, scroll down the left side and click on “Make a Payment”. See notes below on specifying payment types. |  |
| To make a payment WITHOUT having an account set up – navigate to this link. The following page will appear. The Direct Pay option is recommended since there is no associated surcharge. |  |
| Next click on “Pay individual tax”, then “Make a Payment” (note the screenshot here is taken from two different web pages). |  |
| On the next page, pay special attention to the “Reason for Payment” and “Tax Period” fields. For example, the Reason for Payment on a 2025 balance due will be “Balance Due” and “2025” for tax period. The screenshot here reflects an estimated tax payment for tax year 2026. NOTE – the tax period is the tax year for which you wish the payment to be applied EVEN if the payment is not being paid that year. Example – you wish to make a 2026 Q4 estimate on 1/14/2027. You would select 2026 in this case. |  |
You should be able to complete the prompts that follow without additional guidance
Next, we will review how to make Pennsylvania payments electronically via MyPath:
| Navigate to this link. To set up an account, click on “Sign Up” on the right side and follow the prompts to complete account registration. |  |
| To make a payment – SCROLL DOWN. Note this is NOT visible until scrolling. Click on “Make a Payment” on the left side. Click on “Make a Payment” again on the next page in the center of the screen. |
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You will enter the payment detail & your personal info on the ensuing screen. Similarly to the Federal payment instructions, please be cognizant of the Payment Type and year. In the screenshot here, the payment will be applied as a 2026 estimate. The same caution applies here as with the Federal paragraph – the tax year for which you wish the payment to be applied need NOT be the same year you are actually making the payment – especially in the case of Q4 estimates due January of the succeeding year.
This concludes our tutorial. Obviously, we’ve only included payment instructions for Federal and Pennsylvania. However, most other state taxing authorities allow online options as well.
If you have any questions, please call our office at 215-368-5755 or email us at info@bsccpas.com