Updated October 17, 2026. Quick answer: Line 26 of Form 1040 is where estimated tax payments for 2025 go, together with any overpayment from your 2024 return that you applied to 2025. The instructions tell you to enter the estimated federal income tax payments you made for the year. The number comes from your own payment records, and it feeds your total payments on line 33.
IRS worksheets read line by line: W-4 Multiple Jobs Worksheet.
Read box by box from the IRS form text: Form W-2G box 4 and Form W-2G lottery winnings.
Related reading on this site: IRS Notice CP53 (refund check mailed instead of direct deposit), IRS Notice CP53A (direct deposit rejected by the bank), IRS Notice CP53D (paper check instead of requested direct deposit) and IRS Notice CP53E (add or update a bank account).
Business use of your home (Form 8829), the saver’s credit (Form 8880), clean vehicle credits (Form 8936) and amended returns (Form 1040-X), read line by line: Form 1040-X lines 12 to 17 and Form 1040-X lines 18 to 23.
Schedule C and Schedule SE (Form 1040) for 2025, read line by line: Schedule SE lines 5 to 13.
Related reading on this site: 2026 Estimated Tax Worksheet.
Schedule 3 (Form 1040) for 2025, read line by line: Schedule 3 line 12, Schedule 3 lines 13a to 13d and Schedule 3 lines 13z, 14 and 15.
What line 26 asks for
The form’s own caption for the line reads “2025 estimated tax payments and amount applied from 2024 return”. The instructions open the line the same way: “Enter any estimated federal income tax payments you made for 2025.” They then add the carryover: “Include any overpayment that you applied to your 2025 estimated tax from your 2024 return or an amended return.” So the line holds two kinds of money: payments you sent in during the year, and a prior-year overpayment you chose to apply forward instead of taking it back.
Tax that an employer or payer withheld is a different thing and sits on the lines just above, not here. This page covers only line 26. The surrounding lines are laid out in Form 1040 line by line.
Where the number comes from
The number comes from your own records of what you paid. Estimated payments are made on a schedule that the estimated tax due dates page walks through, and the payment vouchers and plans behind them are described on the Form 1040-ES page. For line 26 you do not recompute anything. You add up the payments you actually made for 2025 and the 2024 overpayment you applied to 2025.
If you ever wondered whether you paid enough during the year, that question belongs to Form 2210 and is handled on the penalty line near the bottom of the return, not on line 26. Line 26 only records what was paid.
If you and your spouse split joint payments
Couples sometimes pay joint estimated tax and then file separately. The instructions allow a split: “If you and your spouse paid joint estimated tax but are now filing separate income tax returns, you can divide the amount paid in any way you choose as long as you both agree.” They also say what happens without agreement: “If you can’t agree, you must divide the payments in proportion to each spouse’s individual tax as shown on your separate returns for 2025.”
The instructions add a practical step for the separate returns: “Be sure to show both SSNs in the space provided on the separate returns.” The reverse case is just as plain: “If you or your spouse paid separate estimated tax but you are now filing a joint return, add the amounts you each paid.”
The former spouse SSN line
Directly under line 26 the form prints a request: “If you made estimated tax payments with your former spouse in 2025, enter their SSN”. The instructions explain who that applies to: “If you got divorced in 2025 and you made joint estimated tax payments with your former spouse, enter your former spouse’s SSN in the space provided on line 26.”
A remarriage changes where the number goes: “If you were divorced and remarried in 2025, enter your present spouse’s SSN in the space provided on the front of Form 1040 or 1040-SR.” Keep the two straight. The former spouse’s SSN belongs in the line 26 space only when you shared estimated payments with that person.
If you changed your name
Payments made under an earlier name can be hard for the IRS to match. The instructions give a fix: “If you changed your name and you made estimated tax payments using your former name, attach a statement to the front of Form 1040 or 1040-SR that explains all the payments you and your spouse made in 2025”. Gather the old name, the payment dates and amounts, and your Social Security number as they were used on each payment before you write that statement.
Where it goes next
The payments and refundable credits section of the form adds these lines together in two steps. The form’s caption for line 32 reads “Add lines 27a, 28, 29, 30, and 31. These are your total other payments and refundable credits”. Line 26 is not part of the line 32 sum. It joins the total separately, on line 33, next to the withholding total and the refundable credits.
Line 33 then combines the pieces. Its caption reads “Add lines 25d, 26, and 32. These are your total payments”. The form compares that total with your total tax: “If line 33 is more than line 24, subtract line 24 from line 33. This is the amount you overpaid”. So whatever you enter on line 26 changes the result at the bottom of the return, and the neighboring lines are explained in Form 1040 line by line.
Edition and line numbers
This page reads the 2025 Form 1040 and its 2025 instructions, the current files irs.gov served on 2026-10-17. They are the forms for the tax year 2025 return, filed in 2026. The instructions say “The lines on Forms 1040 and 1040-SR are the same.” so everything here applies to Form 1040 and to Form 1040-SR alike. Check the tax year printed on the form you are filling in and use the line numbers on that year’s form, because a different year’s form can number or word its lines differently.
Common mistakes
- Leaving out the carryover from last year. The instructions say “Include any overpayment that you applied to your 2025 estimated tax from your 2024 return or an amended return.”
- Splitting joint payments without agreement. The instructions say “If you can’t agree, you must divide the payments in proportion to each spouse’s individual tax as shown on your separate returns for 2025.”
- Forgetting the SSN after a divorce. The instructions say “enter your former spouse’s SSN in the space provided on line 26.”
Related: Form 1040-ES, Estimated tax due dates, Form 2210, and Form 1040.
Sources
- Instructions for Form 1040 and Form 1040-SR (2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf
- Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return (2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 17, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.