Hello,

This is a general question, but I'll put it in the context of my situation. Last spring I sold some stock from an Employee Purchase Plan that I had held for several years. My assumption was that tax was not due on the profit of this sale until 4/15/2007. When I received the year end statement from the broker, it listed a line about Fed Tax withheld due to sale.

Will I owe a late tax penalty on the sale of this stock if I sold it in 2006, and pay the tax on time on 4/15/2007?

Thanks!

It depends on the level of profit made. If you made over $50,000 in profit, you would be expected to make an estimated tax payment within a few weeks of receiving the money.

If the profit is less than $50,000, you could probably get by with waiting until 15 April 2007 to pay the tax. Several safe harbor provisions would keep under-wthholding penalties from kicking in.