Why does this sneak up on me every January? It's right over there in the ol' blog's tax calendar to your left. Still, boom! I almost forget about it year after year.

I'm talking, of course, about the previous year's final estimated tax payment. Yep, it's 1040-ES time again. Voucher number four needs to be on its way to the IRS by Friday.

Estimated tax voucher4 (2)

I just logged on to the IRS' Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, or EFTPS, site to have my final 2009 estimated payment shifted over to the Treasury electronically at week's end.

If you want to mail your payment, just make sure you get the envelope to the post office in time Friday for it to get that Jan. 15 postmark.

And if you just don't want to be bothered with filing anything this week, that's fine ... as long as you're ready to do some more tax work in a couple of weeks.