Is it normal for an individual, filing single, who has been employed for the whole year in California, to owe the state $900 on taxes?

[SweetieJean]

Any income other than wages?

[acarl90045]

No Income other than wages.  I make about 55k.  0 exemptions and 0 allowances.  Seems odd to me

[Anita01]

Make sure you double check your W-2 entries, then ask payroll to show you what they used to calculate your withholding.  You may know what you put on your W-4, but that doesn't mean there were no errors in payroll using the right numbers.

[Anita01 · Accepted solution]

There's really no such thing as normal on a tax return, it's always a moving target.  Most people don't realize their refunds are just a result of the tax calculated on their wages, vs how how much was withheld during the year.  If your employer, for whatever reason, took out less than you owe, then you end up owing at tax time.  That can easily happen if you got a raise during the year.

Your best bet is to double check your entries on your W-2 for the state portion and make sure the numbers were entered correctly.  If they were, then I would advise you to talk to your payroll department and see about adding a little more to your withholding for the state each pay period.  You can do that and then won't have to worry about owing next year.