Hello and good afternoon,
How can I fill out my CA State W-4 form so that a more appropriate amount of CA state taxes is being withheld from my paychecks?
Earlier today I asked a question below (please down scroll below) and an Expert said: "As your income has increased the amount of taxes being taken out of your paycheck for California has gone down. That is why you owe. Time to have a word with HR."
So I am wondering if filling in my CA State W-4 form differently would help? We are married and file separately and have no children.
Currently my CA State W-4 Tax Data is filled out as:
- Married.
- 0 Allowances being claimed.
- 0 additional allowances.
Please see below for more context on how I am not having enough CA taxes withheld from my paychecks, which is causing me to owe a lot of CA state taxes when it is time to file:
Hello,
My total income was $78,176 (box 1 on my W2), and I paid $1,888 in state income tax (box 17 on my W-2). After doing my taxes, it says I will owe the CA state $1,256 and that I am getting a $0 federal refund.
Do those numbers sound correct for me to have to pay that much in CA taxes? I just want to make sure that I am doing my taxes right before submitting them.
I provided some numbers below for context from my last few W-2's to compare how much CA taxes have been withheld over time:
From looking at the percentages below, a lesser percentage of state income taxes is being withheld from my paycheck every year. Even though I am making more money every year. I think that is why gradually I have been getting less of a tax refund and I actually owe money to the CA state. Back in 2022 I made less money, but a higher percentage of about 0.044% was taken out of my paychecks. In comparison to 2024 were I make a lot more money, but only about 0.024% is withheld from my paychecks towards CA taxes.
W-2 2024 - (Box 16) $78,176 x 0.024% = $1,876.22 (closest number I could compute to $1,888.63)
State income tax / Box 17 = $1,888.63
W-2 2023 - (Box 16) $72,870 x 0.038% = 2,769.96 (closest number I could compute to $2,746.22)
State income tax / Box 17 = $2,746.22
W-2 2022 - (Box 16) $63,877 x 0.044% =$2,810,58 (closest number I could compute to $2,796.17)
State income tax / Box 17 = $2,796.17
Thanks for your help.
Best regards,
