Arizona Estimated Tax Payments 2026: Form 140ES Due Dates, the $75,000 Rule, and the Form 221 Penalty

Arizona estimated tax payments for 2026 are due April 15, June 15, September 15, 2026, and January 15, 2027, and you must make them only if your Arizona gross income topped $75,000 ($150,000 on a joint return) in 2025 and will top it again in 2026. The first three dates have passed, so January 15, 2027 is the installment still in play. Arizona sets the trigger by income, not by the tax you owe, and it looks at two years at once: a freelancer whose income only crossed $75,000 this year has no 2026 estimated payments to make at all.

Key takeaways:

• 2026 Form 140ES dates: April 15, June 15, September 15, 2026, and January 15, 2027, in four equal installments
• You must pay only if Arizona gross income (federal AGI for residents) exceeded $75,000 single, head of household or married filing separately, or $150,000 married filing jointly, in both 2025 and 2026
• Safe harbor is 90% of your 2026 tax or 100% of your 2025 tax; Arizona has no 110% tier for high earners
• The 2026 rate is a flat 2.5%, and no change for 2027 has been enacted
• The Form 221 penalty works like interest (7% a year for July through December 2026) and can never exceed 10% of the underpayment

Save this cheat sheet — Arizona's 2026 numbers in one image.

When Are Arizona Estimated Tax Payments Due in 2026?

Arizona uses the federal calendar, per the 2026 Form 140ES instructions, and expects four equal payments:

Because the state and IRS dates match, one reminder covers both; our Form 1040-ES guide covers the federal vouchers, and the estimated tax due-dates tool shows both calendars. Arizona's even 25% split is simpler than California's 30/40/0/30 schedule, which front-loads 70% of the year by June.

There is one way to skip the January voucher. If you file your 2026 Arizona return by February 1, 2027 and pay the full balance shown on it, you do not have to make the fourth payment. The usual January 31 date falls on a Sunday in 2027, which is why the 2026 instructions print February 1.

The 2027 installments fall on April 15, June 15, and September 15, 2027, and January 15, 2028. That last date is a Saturday, and Monday, January 17 is Martin Luther King Jr./Civil Rights Day, an Arizona holiday under A.R.S. § 1-301, so the weekend-and-holiday rule moves it to Tuesday, January 18, 2028.

Who Has to Make Arizona Estimated Tax Payments?

Arizona's estimated tax requirement in A.R.S. § 43-581 applies only when Arizona gross income clears a fixed line in two consecutive years:

For a full-year resident, Arizona gross income is simply federal adjusted gross income. Part-year residents use the share of federal AGI they report to Arizona, and nonresidents use federal AGI from Arizona sources. The instructions add one practical line: if you met the threshold for 2025, you must make 2026 payments "unless you are sure you will not meet the threshold for 2026."

That two-year design produces outcomes the federal rules never would. A Scottsdale consultant with $60,000 of 2025 AGI and $140,000 in 2026 owes no Arizona estimates for 2026; the Form 221 instructions say you are not subject to the penalty if Arizona gross income was under the threshold in either year. Her Arizona balance is simply due April 15, 2027 with the return, while the IRS still expects federal quarterly payments. For 2027 she is in scope as soon as 2027 income also passes the line.

The statute also sets a $1,000 floor. Under § 43-581(E), no penalty applies when the tax due on your return, minus Arizona withholding and credits, is less than $1,000. Building Jupid, I often talk with freelancers who copy their federal habits into their state plan; in Arizona that habit means sending vouchers in years when the law asks for none, then missing the year the requirement actually starts.

What Is Arizona's Income Tax Rate for 2026 and 2027?

Arizona taxes 2026 income at a flat 2.5% at every income level and filing status, the rate printed on line 19 of the Form 140ES worksheet. The worksheet starts from the income on your federal 1040-ES worksheet, adds items such as non-Arizona municipal bond interest, and subtracts income Arizona does not tax: U.S. Social Security and Railroad Retirement benefits, U.S. government bond interest, uniformed services retirement pay, up to $2,500 of federal, Arizona state, or local government pensions, and any small business income you move to Form 140-SBI.

For the deduction line, the 140ES instructions tell you to use the 2025 Arizona standard deduction if you will not itemize: $15,750 single or married filing separately, $31,500 married filing jointly, and $23,625 head of household, per the ADOR income tax highlights. Credits, including the Dependent Tax Credit, then come off the tax.

For 2027, current law keeps the 2.5% rate. A 2025 referral, SCR 1014, would have tied future cuts to budget surpluses; it passed the Senate 17-10 on February 20, 2025, but the House never approved it, and it is not on the November 3, 2026 ballot, per Ballotpedia's tracking.

Worked example. Ramona is a single freelance architectural drafter in Tucson with no Arizona withholding. She expects $100,000 of 2026 net self-employment profit, and her 2025 federal AGI was $82,000.

Both years clear $75,000, so Ramona is required to pay. Her 2025 Arizona tax, on the same worksheet logic, was ($82,000 − $15,750) × 2.5% = $1,656.

Arizona Safe Harbor: 90% of 2026 or 100% of 2025

Your estimated payments plus Arizona withholding avoid the Form 221 penalty when, paid in four equal installments, they total the smaller of:

Ramona's numbers: 90% × $1,930 = $1,737, against 100% × $1,656 = $1,656. The prior-year figure is smaller, so her target is $1,656, or $414 per installment, and the remaining $274 rides penalty-free until April 15, 2027. Unlike the IRS, which asks for 110% of prior-year tax once AGI passes $150,000, Arizona's statute fixes the prior-year option at 100% for everyone.

Withholding counts as paid one-fourth on each due date unless you show otherwise, so extra W-2 withholding in December still covers April, June, and September. Income that arrived late in the year can lower the early installments through the annualized income worksheet on Form 221, used for every due date.

Check Whether Arizona Expects a January Payment From You

How to Pay Arizona Estimated Taxes Online or by Mail

The fastest route is the AZTaxes.gov individual payment page: choose "Make an Individual/Small Business Income Payment," then select 140ES: Estimate Payments as the payment type. The E-Check option debits your checking or savings account with no fee and returns a confirmation number, which the instructions tell you to keep as proof of payment. Credit cards go through a third-party provider that charges a convenience fee. If you pay online, do not mail the voucher; ADOR applies the payment to your account and you claim it on your return.

To pay by mail, complete one Form 140ES voucher per quarter, check only that quarter's box, round the payment to whole dollars, and send a check or money order payable to Arizona Department of Revenue with your SSN, "Tax Year 2026," and "140ES" written on it to:

Arizona Department of Revenue, PO Box 29085, Phoenix, AZ 85038-9085

People who are not required to pay can still send voluntary estimates; the instructions suggest 10%, 15%, or 20% of each federal 1040-ES payment.

What Is the Arizona Underpayment Penalty? Form 221 and the 10% Cap

The penalty for a missed or short Arizona installment is computed on Form 221, and it equals the interest that would accrue on the underpayment, capped at 10% of the underpayment. Arizona's rate is the federal short-term rate plus 3 percentage points, per the ADOR interest rate table:

Unpaid penalty compounds into the principal on January 1, and the 2027 rates had not been published as of October 29, 2026.

Suppose Ramona learned about the requirement in late October and had paid nothing. If she sends the three missed $414 installments on December 31, 2026, Form 221 charges:

Each figure sits below the $41.40 cap (10% of $414), and her January 15 payment of $414 is on time. The February 1 file-and-pay option would cancel only that fourth installment; the first three keep accruing until paid. The federal estimated tax penalty runs in parallel on Form 2210.

Form 221 also lists exceptions and waivers. You owe no Arizona penalty if a federal exception under IRC § 6654 applies, such as no federal tax liability for a full 12-month prior year. ADOR can waive the penalty after a casualty or disaster, or when you retired after age 62 or became disabled and the shortfall had reasonable cause.

When Arizona Estimated Payments Do NOT Apply

• Either year was under the threshold. Both 2025 and 2026 Arizona gross income must exceed $75,000 (or $150,000 joint); one year under the line means no requirement and no Form 221 penalty
• The balance is small. Tax due on the return minus Arizona withholding and credits below $1,000 means no penalty under § 43-581(E)
• Withholding already covers it. If Arizona tax withheld from wages or pensions equals the required annual payment (Form 221, line 9), you skip Form 221
• Farmers and fishermen. If you report as one federally, you make a single installment by January 15, 2027, or none at all if you file and pay in full by March 1, 2027
• New arrivals. If you moved to Arizona during 2026 with no Arizona-source income in 2025, your 2025 Arizona gross income sat below the line, so 2026 payments are not required
• Nonresident aliens. Taxpayers who elect nonresident alien treatment federally make three payments, on June 15, September 15, 2026, and January 15, 2027, with 50% in the first

Arizona Traps: SBI Vouchers, PTE Estimates, Retirement Income, and No City Tax

Small business income on Form 140-SBI. If you elect to report small business income separately, that income comes off line 7 of the regular worksheet and moves to its own Form 140ES-SBI, also at 2.5%, with "140ES-SBI" written on the check. Keep the SBI share of your estimates on that voucher rather than folding it into the regular 140ES.

PTE elections. A partnership or S corporation that elects to pay entity-level tax under A.R.S. § 43-1014 must make its own estimated payments once its taxable income exceeded $150,000 in the prior year, per § 43-581(C). Your personal 140ES covers only the tax on your individual return.

Retirement income counts toward the trigger. The $75,000 test uses federal AGI, so taxable Social Security, IRA withdrawals, and pensions push you toward the line even though the worksheet later subtracts Social Security and up to $2,500 of government pension income.

No city or county income tax. When voters created the Urban Revenue Sharing fund in 1972, Arizona counties, cities, and towns were prohibited from levying an income tax, according to the Arizona Senate's shared-revenue brief; cities instead receive 18% of state income tax collections under A.R.S. § 43-206. A Phoenix or Tucson freelancer files one state voucher and nothing local, unlike Ohio or Michigan. The Arizona quarterly tax calculator adds the federal and self-employment side to the state number.

January Without the Guesswork: How Jupid Helps

Arizona's trigger hinges on two years of AGI, and the January voucher depends on knowing what your business actually netted in 2026. Jupid connects to your bank accounts and sorts every transaction into income and expense categories with 95.9% accuracy, so your year-to-date profit is current before January 15 instead of reconstructed in March. Ask the AI accountant in WhatsApp or iMessage how much you have earned since January and what you have already sent the state, and you have the inputs for the 140ES worksheet in one reply. Try Jupid.

Sources

• 2026 Arizona Form 140ES instructions and 140ES booklet with worksheet: trigger, due dates, safe harbor, 2.5% rate, February 1 option, payment methods
• 2026 Arizona Form 140ES-SBI: separate small business income estimates
• 2025 Arizona Form 221 instructions: penalty computation, 10% cap, exceptions, waivers, withholding timing
• ADOR: Make a Payment Online, Interest Rates, and Income Tax Highlights: AZTaxes.gov steps, 2026 rates, 2025 standard deduction
• A.R.S. § 43-581: estimated tax requirement, $1,000 floor, PTE estimates
• Arizona Senate: State Shared Revenues: local income tax prohibition
• Ballotpedia: Arizona Individual Income Tax Rate Reduction Measure (2026): SCR 1014 status
• IRS: Form 1040-ES: the parallel federal requirement

This guide is for general educational purposes and does not constitute tax, legal, or accounting advice. Reviewed 2026-10-29 against the 2026 Form 140ES, the 2025 Form 221 instructions, and ADOR's published interest rates; Arizona had not published 2027 rates at that date. For advice specific to your situation, consult a qualified tax professional or the Arizona Department of Revenue at azdor.gov.