1099 travel nurses have no employer withholding, so the IRS expects you to pay tax as you earn it — in four quarterly estimated payments due April 15, June 15, and September 15, 2026, and January 15, 2027. Miss a quarter and you can owe an underpayment penalty even if you pay your full balance by the April filing deadline — paying late doesn’t erase a penalty that already accrued on an earlier quarter.
Key takeaways
- The four 2026 due dates are April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15, 2027 — and they are not evenly spaced three-month quarters.
- You generally must pay estimated tax if you expect to owe $1,000 or more for the year after any withholding.
- The safe harbor: pay at least 90% of this year’s tax, or 100% of last year’s tax (110% if your prior-year AGI was over $150,000), and the IRS won’t charge an underpayment penalty even if you owe more in April.
- A missed or short quarter accrues its own penalty for that period — increasing a later payment doesn’t retroactively erase it.
The four 2026 due dates
The IRS calls these "quarterly" payments, but the periods they cover aren’t equal three-month spans:
- April 15, 2026 — covers income from January through March (3 months).
- June 15, 2026 — covers April and May only (2 months).
- September 15, 2026 — covers June through August (3 months).
- January 15, 2027 — covers September through December (4 months).
You can skip the January 15 payment if you file your full 2026 return and pay the entire balance due by February 1, 2027 — but that’s the only built-in exception.
How much to set aside from every paycheck
There’s no single right percentage — it depends on your total income, filing status, deductions, and home state — but most 1099 travel nurses land somewhere in the 25–35% of net profit range once you stack self-employment tax (15.3% on 92.35% of net earnings), federal income tax, and any state income tax on top of each other. Setting aside a fixed percentage of every payment the moment it lands — into a separate account you don’t touch — is far more reliable than trying to save up before each deadline. Run your actual numbers, including how 1099 compares to a W2 offer on the same contract, with the W2 vs. 1099 Calculator.
The safe harbor: how much is actually enough
You avoid the underpayment penalty entirely if your withholding plus estimated payments for the year equals at least the smaller of these two numbers:
- 90% of your current-year tax — hard to hit precisely since you’re forecasting income you don’t have yet.
- 100% of your prior-year tax — or 110% if your prior-year adjusted gross income was over $150,000.
Most 1099 nurses find the prior-year method easier to hit exactly, since it’s based on a number you already know: your actual tax bill from last year’s return. Pay one-quarter of that safe-harbor target (or 110% of it, if you cleared the $150,000 threshold) on each of the four due dates, and the IRS won’t assess a penalty — even if your actual 2026 income ends up higher and you owe more when you file.
How to actually pay
The two most common methods are IRS Direct Pay (directpay.irs.gov, no account or fee required, pay straight from a bank account) and EFTPS (the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, which lets you schedule all four payments in advance). You can also mail a check with the voucher from Form 1040-ES. Whichever method you use, keep the confirmation — it’s your proof of payment if a notice ever shows up asking why a quarter looks short.
What happens if you miss a payment
The underpayment penalty is calculated separately for each quarter you fall short — roughly the shortfall multiplied by the IRS’s short-term interest rate plus 3%, prorated for the number of days that quarter’s payment was late or missing. Making it up in a later quarter stops the penalty from growing further, but it does not erase what already accrued for the quarter you missed. If you’re behind, the second-best move after "pay what you can now" is to increase every remaining payment enough to hit the safe harbor for the rest of the year, which caps how much worse the penalty gets.
Entity structure doesn’t change any of this
Whether you’re a straight 1099 sole proprietor or you’ve elected S-corp status — see Travel Nurse LLC or S-Corp for 1099 Income — you still owe quarterly estimated tax on the income that isn’t covered by payroll withholding. An S-corp salary gets withholding automatically through payroll; the distribution portion doesn’t, so it still needs to be covered by estimated payments. For the broader picture of how 1099 pay compares to W2, including FICA and deductions, see 1099 Travel Nurse Taxes.
FAQ
Do I really have to pay quarterly, or can I just pay everything in April?
If you expect to owe $1,000 or more for the year after any withholding, the IRS expects quarterly payments — paying it all in April instead generally triggers an underpayment penalty for the quarters you skipped, even though the total tax owed is the same.
What if my income varies a lot between quarters, like most travel nurses?
The prior-year safe harbor (100% or 110% of last year’s tax, paid in four equal installments) sidesteps this entirely — you don’t need to predict a fluctuating income, just match last year’s known tax bill.
Does the safe harbor mean I don’t owe anything more in April?
No. Safe harbor only protects you from the underpayment penalty — you still owe the actual difference between your total tax and what you paid in in April. It just means that balance isn’t penalized.
Can I pay estimated taxes for a state too?
Yes — most states with an income tax have their own estimated payment system and deadlines that often mirror the federal dates. Check your specific home state (and any state where you have significant 1099 income) separately from the federal payments above.
What counts as "last year’s tax" for the safe harbor if last year was my first year as a 1099 nurse?
It’s your actual total tax liability from that prior-year return, even a partial or first-year one. If you had no tax liability at all the prior year, you generally owe no penalty regardless of this year’s payments — but that’s a narrow exception worth confirming with a preparer rather than assuming it applies.