TL;DR: When you’ve completed your tax return and discover that you owe money, it’s never good news. You do, however, have a few options to pay the IRS and paying down your debt, even if it exceeds your cash reserves. This guide explains who qualifies, the rules that apply, and how to apply them to your situation.

When you’ve completed your tax return and discover that you owe money, it’s never good news. You do, however, have a few options to pay the IRS and paying down your debt, even if it exceeds your cash reserves.

Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS)

The US Treasury Department’s Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) is a web service for processing federal tax payments. Your bank account information must be entered into a profile account.

However, you can then pay for a variety of tax responsibilities, such as extension payments, projected taxes, and even tax amounts from prior years. You can make a payment ahead of time. It will be automatically deducted from your bank account on the day you specified.

Direct Pay

Direct Pay is a comparable web service from the IRS and is also an available option to send payments. Because this site does not save your bank account or personal information, you will have to enter it all again each time you want to make a payment.

If you set payments for a future date, you can go back in and amend or cancel it up to two working days before the due date.

U.S. Postal Service

You can also submit your money to the IRS by mail, using a check. Depending on the type of payment and where you live, the IRS offers multiple addresses for payments. The IRS website has a comprehensive list of addresses to help you decide which one to use.