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Ok, little known loophole in the law. But first the facts. You must have 90% of your current tax liability paid in by the end of the year (or 100% of your prior year liability), so you can not exempt yourself and pay all of it on 4/15. ShaniFaye, I would love to know how you have managed to dodge that bullet. Alright, but if you can remain fiscally prudent, there is a way to defer paying in your liability until the last payroll run of the calendar year. Whereas estimated payments have definitive dates where they are deemed paid for purposes of determining whether you have paid your tax in timely, withholding is deemed paid in ratably throughout the year irregardless of when it is actually paid in.
So, you could exempt yourself from withholding for almost the entire year (or set it really low), and then determine your year's actual liability and have that amount deemed withheld from your paycheck that you would receive in December. I wouldn't recommend this to most of the people I know, as most are not financially savvy enough to budget to pay it in a lump-sum basis.
I take a different approach with my own withholding. Every September I run a pretty accurate projection of what my actual tax will be when I file on April 15th. When my withholdings get to exactly 92% (I leave a little cushion in), I exempt myself from withholding, so from anywhere from October or early November, I have no federal tax withheld. This is actually good planning for the holidays, as I have decent cash flow. After 12/31, I reset my withholdings, let the expected balance due float in a 3 month CD and pay the balance due on 4/15.
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