Rental tax calendar
Do you have to pay quarterly taxes on rental income? Your 2027 tax calendar
By Rentlab Team. Checked against IRS sources on .
Dates for tax year 2026, filed in 2027.
Only if you expect to owe $1,000 or more. No tax is withheld from rent, so the IRS asks you to pay as the year goes if you expect to owe at least $1,000 in federal tax for the year after your withholding and credits. Those are the quarterly estimated tax payments, due in April, June, September and January.
If expenses and depreciation leave your rental with a small profit or a loss, you may not reach $1,000. If you have a job, raising the tax withheld from your pay can cover the rest instead. Below is every federal date from the end of 2026 to January 2028, each with who it applies to.
One file with all 11 dates, for Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook. Each event says who it applies to and links back here. No email needed.
Every federal date for your first rental year
For a landlord whose first rental year is 2026. When a deadline falls on a weekend or a federal holiday it moves to the next business day, and the dates below already include that.
End of your 2026 rental year
Expenses you pay by today count for 2026. Check that every receipt and rent payment is recorded and your mileage log is complete.
Who: Everyone. Counting expenses when you pay them is the cash method, which the IRS says most individual taxpayers use.
Source: IRS Publication 527
Set your policy for small purchases in 2027
Decide to treat items of $2,500 or less (per invoice, or per item on the invoice) as expenses in your books for 2027. The de minimis safe harbor needs this policy in place from the first day of the year. It does not have to be written down.
Who: Anyone who wants to deduct small repairs and purchases in full, without sorting repairs from improvements.
Fourth estimated tax payment for 2026
Pay the last quarterly estimated tax installment for 2026.
Who: Only if you expect to owe $1,000 or more for 2026 after withholding and credits. You can skip it if you file your 2026 return by January 31, 2027 and pay everything you owe.
Sources: IRS Publication 505, IRS: Estimated taxes
Send Form 1099-NEC to contractors
Give Form 1099-NEC to each contractor you paid and file it with the IRS. The usual January 31 deadline falls on a Sunday in 2027. Ask contractors for a Form W-9 before you pay them, so you have what you need.
Who: Only if, in 2026, you paid someone who is not your employee $2,000 or more for services (payments to corporations are generally excluded, but lawyers are not), and your rental counts as a trade or business. Ask your tax preparer if you are unsure about the last part.
Sources: IRS: Form 1099-NEC FAQ, IRS: Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC
File your 2026 return with Schedule E
File your 2026 Form 1040 with Schedule E and pay any tax you owe. In the year a rental is first placed in service, also file Form 4562 for depreciation. If you are making the de minimis or small taxpayer safe harbor elections, they are statements attached to this return.
Who: Everyone with rental income in 2026. Need more time? Form 4868 moves the filing deadline to October 15, but tax you owe is still due today.
Sources: IRS: Instructions for Schedule E, IRS: Instructions for Form 4562, IRS: Get an extension
First estimated tax payment for 2027
Pay the first quarterly estimated tax installment for 2027.
Who: Only if you expect to owe $1,000 or more for 2027 after withholding and credits.
Sources: IRS Publication 505, IRS: Estimated taxes
Second estimated tax payment for 2027
Pay the second quarterly estimated tax installment for 2027.
Who: Same test: only if you expect to owe $1,000 or more for 2027.
Source: IRS Publication 505
Third estimated tax payment for 2027
Pay the third quarterly estimated tax installment for 2027.
Who: Same test: only if you expect to owe $1,000 or more for 2027.
Source: IRS Publication 505
Extended 2026 return is due
File your 2026 return if you requested an extension in April.
Who: Only if you filed Form 4868 by April 15, 2027.
Source: IRS: Get an extension
End of your 2027 rental year
Expenses you pay by today count for 2027. Check that every receipt and rent payment is recorded and your mileage log is complete.
Who: Everyone.
Source: IRS Publication 527
Fourth estimated tax payment for 2027
Pay the last quarterly estimated tax installment for 2027. January 15, 2028 is a Saturday and January 17 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so the deadline moves to Tuesday.
Who: Only if you expect to owe $1,000 or more for 2027 after withholding and credits.
Source: IRS Publication 505
Also watch your mail in late January: your lender sends Form 1098, which shows the mortgage interest you paid in 2026. Keep it with your property tax and insurance bills for Schedule E.
Do you need to make quarterly payments?
The $1,000 test
You generally have to pay estimated tax for 2027 if both of these are true: you expect to owe at least $1,000 for 2027 after withholding and refundable credits, and your withholding and credits will come to less than 90% of your 2027 tax or 100% of your 2026 tax, whichever is smaller. The 100% becomes 110% if your 2026 adjusted gross income was over $150,000 ($75,000 if married filing separately). If you owed no tax at all for 2026, and were a US citizen or resident for all of it, you do not have to pay estimated tax for 2027.
The easy way to avoid the penalty in your first year
The penalty is for paying too little too late. You avoid it if your withholding and on-time estimated payments add up to at least 90% of this year's tax or 100% of last year's. In your first rental year, last year's number is the one you already know: if your job's withholding this year will at least match your total tax last year (110% if last year's adjusted gross income was over $150,000), you are covered, and you can pay the extra tax from your rental with your return in April.
Paying through your paycheck instead
If you have a job, give your employer a new Form W-4 to withhold more. Withholding counts as if it were paid evenly through the year, even if you raise it in the fall, so it can make up for a quarter you missed. Estimated payments only count from the day you make them.
Skipping the January payment
You can skip the January 15, 2027 payment if you file your 2026 return by January 31, 2027 and pay all the tax you owe with it.
How to pay
Online through IRS Direct Pay or your IRS Online Account, through EFTPS, or by mailing a check with a Form 1040-ES voucher.
An example
Your job's withholding covers the tax on your salary. Your rental collects $18,000 in rent, and expenses plus depreciation come to $15,000, leaving $3,000 of profit. In the 22% tax bracket that is $660 of extra federal tax. That is under $1,000, so you would not have to make estimated payments for it: you pay the $660 when you file.
All of the rules above are from IRS Publication 505.
What this calendar leaves out
- State and local dates. States with an income tax usually have their own estimated payments, and property tax due dates are set by your county or city. Check your state tax agency and your county's website.
- Disaster postponements. If you live in an area hit by a federally declared disaster, the IRS often postpones these dates. See tax relief in disaster situations.
- Payroll dates, if you pay anyone as an employee rather than a contractor.
- A fiscal tax year. These dates assume your tax year is the calendar year, as it is for most individuals.
Common questions
Do you have to pay quarterly taxes on rental income?
Only if you expect to owe $1,000 or more in federal tax for the year after withholding and credits, and your withholding will not cover 90% of this year's tax or 100% of last year's. No tax is withheld from rent, so a landlord with a rental profit may need to make quarterly payments, or can raise the withholding at their job instead.
When are quarterly estimated taxes due in 2027?
April 15, June 15 and September 15, 2027, then January 18, 2028 for the last 2027 payment (January 15 is a Saturday and January 17 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day). The last payment for 2026 is due January 15, 2027.
What happens if I miss a quarterly payment?
The IRS can charge an underpayment penalty, figured like interest on the amount that was short for as long as it was short, so paying late is better than not paying. There is no penalty if your withholding and on-time payments reached 90% of this year's tax or 100% of last year's (110% if last year's adjusted gross income was over $150,000), or if your tax for the year minus withholding is under $1,000.
Do I need to send a 1099 to contractors who work on my rental?
Only if your rental counts as a trade or business and you paid someone who is not your employee $2,000 or more for services in 2026 (the threshold was $600 before 2026). Form 1099-NEC is then due to them and to the IRS by February 1, 2027. Ask your tax preparer whether your rental counts as a trade or business.
Keep reading
- Repairs or improvements? How the January 1 small-purchase policy and the safe harbors work.
- Stop paying your accountant to sort receipts: what to keep, and for how long.