Estimated Tax Payments on REIT, BDC and K-1 Income (Jan 15, 2027)

The 2026 calendar, with weekdays

Dates from Form 1040-ES (2026) and the Internal Revenue Code; weekdays and the day counts for the K-1 targets are our arithmetic. The first three rows have already passed as of October 15, 2026.

The Form 1040-ES (2026) installment dates match the statute. Our year-end tax calendar lists these next to the tender deadlines; this page is about what you owe on each date.

What the statute lets you pay: three tests

The addition to tax for underpayment is worked out one installment at a time. Under 26 U.S.C. 6654(d)(1)(A), each of the four required installments is “25 percent of the required annual payment.” What that annual payment is depends on which test you use:

• The current-year test. Under 26 U.S.C. 6654(d)(1)(B)(i), 90 percent of the tax shown on the 2026 return. For a holder waiting on a K-1 this is the one test you cannot measure on January 15, 2027.
• The prior-year test. Under 26 U.S.C. 6654(d)(1)(B)(ii), 100 percent of the tax shown on the 2025 return, and it does not apply if 2025 was not a 12-month year or you filed no 2025 return. The annual payment is the lesser of the two.
• The higher-income version of the prior-year test. Under 26 U.S.C. 6654(d)(1)(C)(i), if the adjusted gross income on the 2025 return exceeded $150,000, the 100 percent becomes 110 percent; for a married individual filing a separate return the threshold is $75,000 (6654(d)(1)(C)(ii)). Form 1040-ES (2026) repeats both.

Two more rules matter to a holder of these vehicles:

• The annualized income installment method. Under 26 U.S.C. 6654(d)(2), if you show that the annualized income installment is lower, the required installment is the lower amount. The applicable percentages are 22.5, 45, 67.5 and 90 for the four installments (6654(d)(2)(C)(ii)). The Instructions for Form 2210 (2025), the latest published, set the Schedule AI periods as January 1 to March 31, January 1 to May 31, January 1 to August 31 and the full year, say to “Include your share of partnership or S corporation income or loss items for the period,” and say that if you use Schedule AI for any due date you must use it for all of them. Form 1040-ES (2026) says a filer who uses the annualized method files Form 2210, including Schedule AI, with the return even if no penalty is owed. The 2026 version of the Form 2210 instructions was not published on October 15, 2026, so we cite the 2025 text.
• The $1,000 floor. Under 26 U.S.C. 6654(e)(1), no addition to tax applies if the tax shown on the return, less the withholding credit, is under $1,000.

Withholding helps late in the year. Under 26 U.S.C. 6654(g)(1), withholding is “deemed paid on each due date” in equal parts unless you establish the dates it was actually withheld. That deeming rule is why withholding added late in the year can count toward earlier quarters (our reading); whether it fits you is a question for your CPA, not a recommendation.

The February 1 exception and why a K-1 holder cannot use it

Under 26 U.S.C. 6654(h), “If, on or before January 31 of the following taxable year, the taxpayer files a return for the taxable year and pays in full the amount computed on the return as payable,” no addition to tax is imposed for the underpayment. Form 1040-ES (2026) gives the date as February 1, 2027. A holder of a fund that sends a K-1 in mid or late March cannot file a complete return by then. The fund's own 10-K is what says so:

• KKR Infrastructure Conglomerate says it “intends to provide U.S. tax information (including IRS Schedule K-1 information needed to determine a Shareholder’s allocable share of our partnership’s income, gain, losses, and deductions) 75 days after the close of each calendar year.” It adds that delivery “may be subject to delay, which could require a Shareholder who is a U.S. taxpayer to request an extension of the due date for such Shareholder’s income tax return.” Seventy-five days after December 31, 2026 is Tuesday, March 16, 2027 (our arithmetic).
• Apollo Infrastructure Company (Series II, the partnership series) says its operator will endeavor to provide K-1s “within 90 calendar days of the end of the fiscal year,” which is Wednesday, March 31, 2027 (our arithmetic), and that “There is no assurance that Schedules K-1 will be provided within a particular time-frame to Series II Shareholders and any such Schedule K-1 may be based on the best available estimates at the time of issuance.” It also says final statements “may not be available until after the completion of Series II’s annual audit.”

For these holders the real choice on January 15, 2027 is between paying the prior-year safe harbor and estimating 2026 tax without the K-1. Our K-1 versus 1099-DIV census lists the 27 vehicles that say they send a K-1 and the date each gives; the K-INFRA page covers that fund's structure.

Three vehicles, three different estimated-tax problems

Read from each vehicle's FY2025 Form 10-K as of October 15, 2026. A per-share figure is the Class I share class in each filing.

Source: FY2025 Form 10-K of BREIT (0001662972-26-000032), Blackstone Private Credit Fund (0001803498-26-000014), KKR Infrastructure Conglomerate (0001948056-26-000023) and Apollo Infrastructure Company (0001193125-26-132670).

Three things come out of the filings that a general estimated-tax guide cannot give you:

• The distribution is not the taxable amount, in either direction. BREIT's holder received cash and has no 2025 ordinary dividend. K-INFRA's 10-K shows a fund that declared $194,582 thousand of distributions in 2025 against $17,137 thousand of net investment income and a $113,034 thousand net realized loss on its books; a shareholder's K-1 allocates taxable income under partnership rules, and the 10-K says the shareholder owes it “and will need to fund such liability from other sources” if cash falls short. The book figures do not give a holder the K-1 number (our reading).
• Part of the figure is only an estimate until the return is filed. BCRED's 10-K carries the footnote “Tax information for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 is estimated and is not considered final until the Company files its tax return.” The final character of a 2026 distribution is not known on January 15, 2027 for any of these vehicles. Our return-of-capital page shows how 2025 estimates were finally split across 21 REITs.
• Reinvested distributions are still income. BREIT's 10-K shows 50 percent of its 2025 distributions, $1,180,905 thousand of $2,371,454 thousand, were reinvested in shares. BREIT's 10-K says that if you take part in the plan you are “deemed to have received, and for U.S. federal income tax purposes will be taxed on, the amount reinvested in shares of our common stock to the extent the amount reinvested was not a tax-free return of capital,” so the cash for the tax comes from somewhere else.

The distribution declared in December and paid in January

Under 26 U.S.C. 852(b)(7) for a regulated investment company, which Blackstone Private Credit Fund's 10-K says it is, and 26 U.S.C. 857(b)(9) for a REIT, a dividend declared in October, November or December and payable to holders of record on a date in that month is deemed “to have been received by each shareholder on December 31 of such calendar year” if it is actually paid in January. Blackstone Private Credit Fund describes its own version: such distributions “will be taxable to shareholders in the calendar year in which the distributions are declared, rather than the calendar year in which the distributions are received.”

Its filing shows the case. The Class I distribution of $0.2000 per share was declared December 18, 2025, had a December 31, 2025 record date and was paid January 28, 2026 ($274,577 thousand across the class). On 10,000 shares that is $2,000 received in 2026 and taxed in 2025 (our arithmetic). BREIT's 10-K says something different about its own December 31 declarations: they “were paid in January of the following year and are excluded from the analysis below as they were a tax event in the subsequent year.” The two statements are from two filers with different record dates; the statutes apply only where the record date is in October, November or December, so the declaration date and record date on your own fund's notice decide which year your Form 1099-DIV uses (our reading). Our year-end calendar and 1099-DIV timing page cover the form and its mailing date.

A worked example: the K-1 arrives in March (our arithmetic)

The taxpayer below is hypothetical: we assume a 2025 return with AGI of $400,000 and tax of $60,000, and a 2026 tax of $75,000 projected in October. Those assumptions are ours; the shares and per-share figures are from the filings above.

The point is the third and fifth rows. The K-1 changed the balance, not the required installments, so a holder who paid $16,500 on each of the four dates owes no addition to tax under 26 U.S.C. 6654 on the $24,000, and a holder who waited for the K-1 owes it on the full $66,000. The 7 percent is the IRS rate for the quarter that began October 1, 2026 and the IRS says it is unchanged from the prior quarter; rates in other quarters can differ, so $3,072.62 is an illustration, not a forecast. The rate for each quarter comes from 26 U.S.C. 6621, and the form to compute the real amount is Form 2210.

The same hypothetical holder owns 10,000 Class I shares in each of three vehicles:

If 2026 looks like 2025, the $25,800 is ordinary income that is already in the 2026 estimate; the $6,593 is not income but a basis reduction; and the $12,500 tells you nothing about the K-1. That is why the prior-year safe harbor, not the cash received, usually decides what a holder with a K-1 pays by January 15 (our reading).

Net investment income tax and Section 199A inside the estimate

Two other items in the estimate come from these holdings.

• The net investment income tax. Under 26 U.S.C. 1411(b), the 3.8 percent tax applies above $250,000 of modified adjusted gross income for a joint return or surviving spouse and $200,000 in other cases. Publication 505 (2026) says it is “3.8% tax on the lesser of net investment income or the excess of your MAGI” over the threshold and that it may need to be included in estimated tax. Form 1040-ES (2026) points to the Instructions for Form 8960 for the amount. Our net investment income tax page walks through which real estate income counts.
• The Section 199A deduction on REIT dividends. Under 26 U.S.C. 199A(b)(1)(B), the deduction includes 20 percent of the “qualified REIT dividends”, and under 199A(e)(3) a qualified REIT dividend is not a capital gain dividend and not qualified dividend income. A 100 percent return-of-capital year like BREIT's 2025 produces no such dividend. Both Form 1040-ES (2026) and Publication 505 (2026) have a line for the qualified business income deduction in the estimate. Our Section 199A page covers box 5 of Form 1099-DIV.

What a holder can do with this

• Work out the safe harbor first. Pull the 2025 Form 1040: total tax and AGI. If AGI is above $150,000 ($75,000 if married filing separately), multiply the tax by 110 percent and divide by four. That is the installment that protects you whatever the K-1 says (26 U.S.C. 6654(d)(1)).
• Compare what you paid on April 15, June 15 and September 15, 2026 with that figure. A shortfall can be made up on January 15, 2027, but the addition to tax for earlier installments accrues from their own due dates.
• Do not plan on the February 1 exception if you hold a K-1 vehicle whose filing targets mid or late March.
• Ask each vehicle which year its December distribution lands in, and when it will publish the 2026 tax character; the 10-K comes after the year ends.
• Decide whether the annualized method is worth the paperwork. It can lower early installments for a holder whose income arrives late, but Form 2210 Schedule AI must be used for all four dates and K-1 income by period depends on information the fund may not supply (our reading).
• For a K-1 holder with an IRA or other tax-exempt account, the estimated tax issues above apply only to taxable accounts; unrelated business taxable income is a separate question for the custodian.

What to ask your CPA

1. What are my 2025 total tax and AGI as filed, and is my safe-harbor installment 100 percent or 110 percent of that tax?
2. What did I actually pay on April 15, June 15 and September 15, 2026, and on what dates did any withholding happen (26 U.S.C. 6654(g))?
3. Which of my holdings send a K-1, on what date, and what is my plan if it arrives after March 15, 2027?
4. Should I use the annualized income installment method on Form 2210 Schedule AI, and can the fund give me income by period?
5. Which year will each fund's December distribution be reported in, given its declaration and record dates?
6. How much of my 2026 distributions will be return of capital, and what is my basis in each position afterward?
7. Does the 3.8 percent net investment income tax apply to me, and is it in my estimate?
8. If I am short, is the cheaper fix a January 15 payment, higher withholding or a balance due with the return?

This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice. The person who can say what you owe is a CPA or tax attorney with your return.

FAQ

Sources, read and saved on October 15, 2026: 26 U.S.C. 301, 852, 857, 1411, 199A, 6072, 6621, 6654 and 7503 (Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, text of the United States Code); IRS Form 1040-ES (2026); IRS Publication 505 (2026, published March 31, 2026); Instructions for Form 2210 and Form 2210 (2025, the latest published); Form 4868 (2025); IRS news release on the fourth-quarter 2026 interest rates (Revenue Ruling 2026-15); FY2025 Form 10-K of BREIT (accession 0001662972-26-000032), Blackstone Private Credit Fund (0001803498-26-000014), KKR Infrastructure Conglomerate (0001948056-26-000023) and Apollo Infrastructure Company (0001193125-26-132670). Calculations marked “our arithmetic” and the hypothetical taxpayer are ours. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.