When I contacted them, they stated that the W4 that I had filed claimed exemption but upon receiving my filed W4 from accounting it doesn't claim exemption. What should I do?
@w4
Nothing to do at this point. Unfortunately you will have to pay state tax owed.
I wonder if you claimed exempt from taxes. This would cause no withholdings to be taken out. Did you have any Federal Taxes taken out? Many times employers use the Federal W4 for both Federal and State.
As part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the IRS and Treasury adjusted the tax withholding tables, which affects the amount of income taxes withheld from your pay. In 2020, W4's were completely redesigned. Exemptions or Allowances are no longer applicable.
My suggestion is to use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator here and then submit a new W4 to your employer.
Also...most states use a separate form that is NOT called a W-4, and is labelled differently.
Getting a copy of your W-4 settings may thus represent what you have set for Federal taxes...but not state taxes.
Make sure you get and re-file with the employer, a new copy of whatever state withholding form your particular state uses.
I noted that the W4 I received after inquiring with our accounting department did not have an exemption. I work in California for a production that pays through Cast & Crew. Ive never had to pay taxes like its estimating right now including for last year where I worked for the same company, although this past tax season is the first full year with this company.
File a Form DE 4 Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate with your employer to get California withholding taken out this year.
As Tax Champ StreamTrain says, most states require a separate withholding certificate.
There’s also a chance your California withholding certificate got lost or the payroll clerk made a mistake. It’s always good practice to check your first few pay stubs to make sure things look right.
Finally, if you work for a production company with irregular hours, it's possible no withholding was be required if your weekly pay was too small for withholding because you were part-time. In that case, you can request additional withholding.
You can set up a payment plan for your tax due. You can apply online.
See Payment plans.