Estimated Tax

Take credit for all your estimated tax payments for 2000 on line 59 of Form 1040 or line 37 of Form 1040A. Include any overpayment from 1999 that you had credited to your 2000 estimated tax. You must use Form 1040 or Form 1040A if you paid estimated tax. You cannot use Form 1040EZ.

If you were a beneficiary of an estate or trust, include on line 59, Form 1040, any trust payments of estimated tax credited to you (from line 14a of Schedule K-1 (Form 1041), Beneficiary's Share of Income, Deductions, Credits, Etc.). On the dotted line next to line 36 of Schedule E (Form 1040) write "ES payment claimed" and the amount. Do not include this amount in the total on line 36. The payment is treated as being made by you on January 15, 2001. You must use Form 1040 and Schedule E to report income from an estate or trust. You cannot use Form 1040A or Form 1040EZ.

Name changed. If you changed your name, and you made estimated tax payments using your old name, attach a brief statement to the front of your tax return indicating:

• When you made the payments,
• The amount of each payment,
• Which IRS address you sent the payments to,
• Your name when you made the payments, and
• Your social security number.

The statement should cover payments you made jointly with your spouse as well as any you made separately.

Separate Returns

If you and your spouse made separate estimated tax payments for 2000 and you file separate returns, you can take credit only for your own payments.

If you made joint estimated tax payments, you must decide how to divide the payments between your returns. One of you can claim all of the estimated tax paid and the other none, or you can divide it in any other way you agree on. If you cannot agree, you must divide the payments in proportion to each spouse's individual tax as shown on your separate returns for 1999.

Example 3.3. James and Evelyn Brown made joint estimated tax payments for 2000 totaling $3,000. They file separate Forms 1040. James' tax is $4,000 and Evelyn's is $1,000. If they do not agree on how to divide the $3,000, they must divide it proportionately between their returns. Because James' tax ($4,000) is 80% of the total tax ($5,000) due for both of them, his share of the estimated tax is $2,400 (80% of $3,000). The balance, $600 (20% of $3,000), is Evelyn's share.

Divorced Taxpayers

If you made joint estimated tax payments for 2000, and you were divorced during the year, either you or your former spouse can claim all of the joint payments, or you each can claim part of them. If you cannot agree on how to divide the payments, you must divide them in proportion to each spouse's individual tax as shown on your separate returns for 2000. See Example 3.3, earlier.

If you claim any of the joint payments on your tax return, enter your former spouse's social security number (SSN) in the space provided on the front of Form 1040 or Form 1040A. If you divorced and remarried in 2000, enter your present spouse's SSN in that space and write your former spouse's SSN, followed by "DIV," to the left of line 59, Form 1040, or line 37, Form 1040A.

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