That is a great question! Were there any new variables introduced into your finances last year to explain the reason why you may have owed more than usual (new job, second job, started a business, sale of investments, a child who has aged out of the child tax credit, to name a few)? If so, is this change likely to continue into future years? It is also a good idea to look at your W-2's from year-to-year to see if your withholding decreased dramatically from one year to the next.
If you don't anticipate any new changes to your tax situation this year, you might want to look at increasing your withholding (if you are an employee) or making estimated quarterly payments (if you are a contractor). You can adjust your withholding by filing an updated W-4 with your employer and perhaps selecting "Single" in Step 1, eliminating credits from the calculation in Step 3, or adding an additional withholding amount per paycheck on Line 4c.
I recommend running your 2023 numbers through this calculator to help determine if you need to be withholding more this year. https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/w4/
I hope this is helpful!
