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Self-Employed Taxes in PA: Quarterly Dates for Berks County

The quarterly payments a self-employed Berks County resident owes the IRS, Pennsylvania and the local collector, the due dates, and the Local Services Tax.

Berks Connect Blog|Published October 22, 2026
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If you're self-employed in PA, whether it's your whole living or a side business beside a paycheck, and nobody withholds tax from that income, three governments expect money from you four times a year instead of once in April: the IRS, Pennsylvania, and your local earned income tax collector. For most of Berks County that collector is the Berks Earned Income Tax Bureau in Wyomissing. All three use January 15 as the last of the four dates. There's also one more flat local tax, the Local Services Tax. If you'd rather hand the whole thing off, the accountants and tax preparers in Berks County can set it up with you.

Do you have to pay quarterly taxes if you're self-employed in Pennsylvania?

Yes, once you expect to owe at least the minimum each government sets; the three minimums are below. The IRS counts you as self-employed if you're a sole proprietor, an independent contractor, a partner in a business, or "otherwise in business for yourself," part-time and gig work included.

No employer withholds for you, so you make estimated payments instead: four payments a year that you figure and send yourself. What gets taxed is your net profits, what the business clears after expenses.

Payment IRS and Pennsylvania Berks earned income tax estimate Local Services Tax, self-employed (30 days after each quarter ends)
First April 15 April 15 By April 30
Second June 15 June 15 (the Bureau's voucher packet says July 15) By July 30
Third September 15 September 15 (the Bureau's voucher packet says October 15) By October 30
Fourth January 15 of the next year January 15 of the next year By January 30

The IRS, Pennsylvania and the Bureau print their columns' dates, and each moves a weekend or holiday date to the next business day; the last column applies the state's 30-day rule.

The IRS, Pennsylvania and the Bureau all land on January 15 for the last payment; for income earned in 2026 that's January 15, 2027, a date that also sits in our year-end tax checklist. The earned income tax column's two sets of middle dates are explained below.

Forming an LLC is covered in our guide to starting a business in Berks County, and payroll once you hire someone in our guide to hiring a first employee in Berks.

Who has to send the IRS estimated payments, and when are they due?

You must pay estimated tax if you expect to owe "at least $1,000 in tax" for the year "after subtracting your withholding and refundable credits," and your paycheck withholding and credits will cover less than the smaller of two amounts: 90% of the year's tax, or 100% of the prior year's tax. If your adjusted gross income the prior year was more than $150,000 ($75,000 if married filing separately), the prior-year figure is 110% instead of 100%.

Part of the bill is self-employment tax, the Social Security and Medicare tax an employer would split with you. It's 15.3%: 12.4% for Social Security on earnings up to a cap that's reset each year (for 2026 it's $184,500), and the cap counts your wages and self-employment earnings together, plus 2.9% for Medicare on all your net earnings. It applies once net earnings from self-employment reach $400 or more, and estimated payments are how you pay it. The $400 is where the self-employment tax itself starts; the $1,000 above is where estimated payments become required.

How do you pay the IRS, and what happens if a payment is late or short?

You can pay free from a bank account through your IRS Online Account, or through IRS Direct Pay if you'd rather not sign in; by card or digital wallet through a provider that charges a fee; or by mail with the payment voucher from Form 1040-ES, the IRS's estimated tax form, with a check payable to "United States Treasury."

A missing or short payment draws a penalty "even if you are due a refund when you file." The IRS generally won't charge it if you owe less than $1,000 after withholding and credits, or if your payments met one of the two tests above.

This is general information about the process; a question about your own return, what you can deduct, or how much to send goes to a CPA, an enrolled agent (a preparer licensed by the IRS), or, if you qualify, a free volunteer tax site under the IRS's VITA program or AARP Tax-Aide.

When are Pennsylvania estimated tax payments due?

The same four days as the IRS. Pennsylvania taxes net profits at its flat 3.07%, the same rate it puts on wages.

You owe Pennsylvania estimated payments when you "can reasonably expect to owe at least $430 ($14,000 of income not subject to employer withholding) in tax after subtracting withholding and credits." Those are the figures as of 2026; Pennsylvania's safe-harbor tests match the IRS's 90% or 100% test. The two figures are one rule: $430 is 3.07% of $14,000. That $14,000 figure rises to $17,000 for 2027.

A missed or short payment draws an interest penalty, charged for each day it stays unpaid, even if your return shows a refund. You can pay on myPATH at mypath.pa.gov without creating an account, by bank withdrawal or card.

Or mail the state's estimated payment voucher, Form PA-40 ES (I), to the Department of Revenue address printed on it.

Do you pay local earned income tax quarterly too?

Yes. The local earned income tax, the tax on wages and net profits, applies to net profits at your home municipality's rate: 1% almost everywhere the Bureau collects, and 3.6% for City of Reading residents. The Bureau's rules ask anyone with earned income or net profits that no employer withholds tax from to file an estimate of the year's income with the Bureau by April 15 and pay the tax in four installments. Those quarterly filings aren't required when your total income subject to the tax for the year, wages included, is "less than $12,000."

The Bureau's regulations set the middle two dates at June 15 and September 15. The voucher packet on its website uses July 15 and October 15. Paying by the June and September dates satisfies both; if you're unsure, the Bureau answers at 610-372-8439.

Paper estimates go with the packet's voucher to the Berks EIT Bureau, PO Box 6385, Wyomissing, PA 19610-0385, check payable to "Berks EIT Bureau" with your Social Security number on it. Online, the Bureau's eServices site at ind.beitb.org lets you register an account and choose "Make Estimated Payment" under Earned Income Tax; bank payments there are free. The annual local return is also due April 15.

What is the Local Services Tax, and how does a self-employed person pay it?

The Local Services Tax is a flat tax on working in a municipality, owed where you work or where your business is located, not where you live. Statewide the most any person pays is $52 a year, however many places they work.

At the 2026 rates, most Berks municipalities levy the full fifty-two dollars. Six levy $10: Brecknock, District, Earl, Greenwich, Lenhartsville and Rockland. Perry Township levies $26, and eleven levy none: Alsace, Centerport, Centre, Jefferson, Marion, North Heidelberg, Penn, Pike, Ruscombmanor, Wernersville and Windsor. A municipality not named in those three groups levies the full $52.

Where the rate is more than $10, the municipality must exempt anyone whose earned income and net profits from all sources within that municipality are "less than $12,000" for the year. To claim it you file the Local Services Tax Exemption Certificate and attach the prior year's state schedule showing the business's profit (PA Schedule C for most sole proprietors; F for a farm, RK-1 for a partnership).

You pay it yourself. Where the rate is more than $10, the state's rule is that "the tax should be pro-rated and paid by self-employed individuals on a quarterly basis," 30 days after the end of each calendar quarter, to the municipality or its collector. A fifty-two dollar tax paid that way comes to $13 a quarter.

Where the Bureau is the collector, its Self-Employed Local Services Tax Form lets you pay the year in full or in quarterly installments, and you mail it with a check payable to Berks EIT Bureau to 1125 Berkshire Blvd, Suite 115, Wyomissing, PA 19610. A business in the City of Reading pays Keystone Collections Group, and the City of Reading prints those quarters as due April 30, July 31, October 31 and January 31. Businesses in Kutztown Borough, Lenhartsville Borough, Maxatawny, Greenwich and Union townships and Hereford Township pay Berkheimer Tax Administrator. The Twin Valley School District's municipalities pay Keystone Collections Group, and Shoemakersville Borough and Tilden Township each have a local collector of their own, named in the state's register.

So here's what I'd do: mark the four IRS and Pennsylvania dates, April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15; mark the Bureau's April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15; and mark the Local Services Tax quarters for where the business is located. If you're starting partway through the year with dates behind you, the dates still ahead are the ones to plan around, and catching up on the earlier ones is exactly the question for a CPA or an enrolled agent. Then decide whether you'll run the numbers yourself or sit down with one of the accountants and tax preparers in Berks County the first time.

Questions that come up the first year.

Can a day job's withholding replace estimated payments?

For someone who also receives wages, the IRS says you "may be able to avoid paying estimated tax by asking your employer to take more tax out of your earnings," by filing a new Form W-4. Pennsylvania and the Bureau both subtract employer withholding when they test whether you owe estimated payments.

Can you skip the January 15 payment if you file early?

For the IRS, yes: you can skip the January 15, 2027 payment if you file your complete 2026 return and pay the whole balance by the end of January 2027 (the IRS prints it as January 31 in one document and February 1 in another). Pennsylvania has no January-filing shortcut for the fourth payment; only farmers have a special rule.

What if you live in Twin Valley or Hereford Township?

Residents of the Twin Valley School District and Hereford Township pay a different earned income tax collector: Keystone Collections Group for Twin Valley, Berkheimer Tax Administrator for Hereford, not the Bureau.

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