[Event] Ask the Experts: All About the W-4

You did mention a W-2 (Wage and Tax Statement). I assumed you meant W-4 (Employee's Withholding Cert) in this response. If you meant W-2 and you suspect there is an error there, the best place to start is contacting your company's payroll department.  

If you are owing thousands of dollars when tax time comes around, there may be a few contributing factors. Here's some things for you to consider:

• Your Form W-4 may be wrong.  Here's a 2024 calculator, but it will get you pretty close for 2025, so you can check that!
• Not relevant to you, since single, but for the future and others, if you are married, but, it's common for folks to end up under withheld if they don't complete the whole W-4 form (including step 2).  This article talks about the major changes in the W-4 with the 2017 TCJA and some of the pitfalls to watch out for (including married folks with both spouses working)
• You may have other income sources than your employment income that you are not withholding taxes for (think pension, retirement plan withdrawals, interest or dividends, capital gains, etc.). You can consider making estimated tax payments for these types of income.
• You may have taxable social security income (many folks don't know that this income can be taxable). Here's more info.
• Your pay may include a significant bonus or other irregular payment like a commission (called supplemental wages).  These payments are typically taxed federally at the 22% tax rate, which may be below your tax bracket

Here's some calculators that may help!  They are for 2024, but are a good starting point.

Tax bracket calculator

W-4 calculator (same as above, just ease of reference)

Hope this helps! If not, you can reply to this message or start a new thread with more info!

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Regards,

Karen

TurboTax Expert