topic Re: Paycheck decrease when I removed additional withholding in Deductions & credits

Paycheck decrease when I removed additional withholding

Elb123456 — Fri, 02 May 2025 20:02:37 GMT

Hi - In an attempt to not have a large tax bill, we accidentally over corrected our witholdings last year and got a significant refund. I recently updated my W4 to remove the additional $200 federal withholding and my paycheck decreased? I didn’t change anything else and claim zero dependents. The federal withholding now shows $180 more than what it was with the additional $200? I did get a $4k raise. Did I get bumped up a tax bracket maybe?

Re: Paycheck decrease when I removed additional withholding

SharonD007 — Fri, 02 May 2025 20:12:03 GMT

You may have. You can review the tax brackets for 2024 Federal income tax rates and brackets here.

Re: Paycheck decrease when I removed additional withholding

AmeliesUncle — Fri, 02 May 2025 21:27:37 GMT

If I had to guess, you previously did not have Box 2 checked on the W-4 and this time you did have the box checked (checking the box withholds more tax).

Another possibility is that your employer entered something differently in their payroll software than what your W-4 shows.

Re: Paycheck decrease when I removed additional withholding

NCperson — Fri, 02 May 2025 22:58:20 GMT

@Elb123456 going into the next tax bracket would not be the issue as your income is mor than the tax, i.e. the paycheck should still go up.

Suggest using the IRS estimator tool to ensure EACH paycheck has the correct withholdings.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator

Re: Paycheck decrease when I removed additional withholding

VolvoGirl — Fri, 02 May 2025 23:12:47 GMT

@Elb123456 Check each line on your paycheck. Is the gross wages the same, etc? I would check with the employer to see if you filled out the W4 right or the employer entered it right and how to adjust it. There is a new W4, it doesn't ask for # of dependents. Did you fill out the old W4 or the new W4?

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf